Tony Gutierrez / AP

An American flag planted by the curb in front of this home waves in the breeze as a tractor demolishes a home in West, Texas, on Friday, May 31, 2013.

The small town of West, Texas, is making plans to move forward after being denied additional funds from The Federal Emergency Management Agency to rebuild after a deadly fertilizer plant explosion last April.

Governor Rick Perry received a letter from FEMA on June 10^th, rejecting his request to declare a major disaster declaration in the town of West, Texas. 

The letter stated bluntly: “It has been determined that the remaining cost for permanent work is within the capabilities of the state and affected local governments. Accordingly, we have determined that a major disaster declaration is not necessary.”

As a result of the denial, Texas officials said West will be forced to absorb an estimated $57 million in public damages.

“I’d just like a little definition on what they consider a disaster,” said West Mayor Tommy Muska, a volunteer firefighter himself who helped battle the explosion and inferno that killed 15 and injured 160. “If they would see what I see, and if they saw what I saw and still see, I don’t understand how this is a disaster that doesn’t merit a declaration.”

The disappointed mayor must now face the daunting question of what to do next.  But Muska said that he will look into any and every avenue for help — including calling on soldiers at the Army base in Ft. Worth to come start rebuilding infrastructure, to reaching out to the National Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers for help.

“We need help, and we need it now so people don’t move away from our small town,” said Muska who visited with Gov. Perry to discuss plans on how to move forward.

The mayor said he will work with the governor’s office to prepare a letter of appeal to be sent to President Barack Obama. The letter will include additional information about the damage in West, with hopes that it will be enough to persuade FEMA to reconsider.

But FEMA officials countered that the agency already took into consideration a number of factors when assessing the request and that, “personnel at the Joint Field Office in West, TX and in the field are actively working with state and local officials to prepare project worksheets for reimbursement of costs related to debris removal and emergency protective measures.”

The agency said it has also helped some individuals and small businesses affected collect over $7 million in federal disaster aid.

Still, Josh Havens, a spokesman for Gov. Perry, said, “FEMA’s decision to deny funds was weird because in this case, a little town sustained enough loss to qualify for assistance on both local and state levels with one single localized event.”

Tony Gutierrez / AP

This April 18, 2013 aerial photo shows a destroyed fertilizer plant, top, following an explosion in West, Texas.

This is not the first time, however, that FEMA has turned down a request for assistance after a non-natural disaster emergency.

In 2010, the town of San Bruno, in Northern California, was denied millions of dollars in public funding after a major Pacific Gas and Electric pipeline explosion.

“At the time I was disappointed,” said San Bruno Mayor, Jim Ruane. “On a national basis, we weren’t recognized. No one said, ‘You people have been through this horrific explosion and the country is watching you and wanting you to rebuild and we want to help you though this.’”

Despite being denied funds from FEMA, PG&E as well as other entities, came forward to claim responsibility for the explosion in San Bruno, and established a $50 million trust fund for the city to help with rebuilding. The city also received $70 million to be used to establish a nonprofit from PG&E for the city as a whole.

Texas public officials would not comment on any litigation against Adair Grain, Inc., owner of the West plant, but two lawsuits have reportedly already been filed by a group of individuals and small businesses.

San Bruno’s Mayor Ruane said the best piece of advice he could offer the town of West is to, “get the city together and say that we as elected officials are there to hold their hand if they need it.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied additional aid to the Texas town devastated by a massive fertilizer plant explosion in April that leveled homes and could be felt as far as 80 miles away, Gov. Rick Perry's office confirmed to NBC News Tuesday

Perry's office said it received a letter from FEMA administrator Craig Fugate saying that the devastated town would not receive funds from the agency.

FEMA said in the letter that the damage from the explosion "is not of the severity and magnitude that warrants a major disaster declaration," according to the Associated Press.

The explosion in West, Texas on the evening of April 17 killed 15 people and injured hundreds more. Twelve of the dead were first responders who were battling a blaze at the West Fertilizer Co. plant on the outskirts of town before it exploded.

In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, FEMA spokesman Dan Watson said the agency had provided over $7 million in federal funds directly to families affected by the disaster, as well as emergency housing assistance and funds to help the state remove debris.

The town of about 2,800 people had asked for a total of about $57 million for work that included road repairs and included $40 million to rebuild a school flattened in the explosion, the AP reported.

“We don’t have the money to go out and borrow the money. We don’t have the means to pay that note back,” West Mayor Tommy Muska told the AP. “There’s got to be some public assistance.”

President Barack Obama and Texas Governor Rick Perry were in communication in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, and Perry said the president called from Air Force One to offer his support. The White House also indicated that federal agencies would support the town’s recovery in a statement.

“My administration, through FEMA and other agencies, is in close contact with our state and local partners on the ground to make sure there are no unmet needs as search and rescue operations continue,” the president said in an April press release. “West is a town that many Texans hold near and dear to their hearts, and as residents continue to respond to this tragedy, they will have the support of the American people.”

Insured losses from the blast could total more than $100 million, the Insurance Council of Texas has estimated.

Related:

• With homes shattered, students return to school in West, Texas
• 'Chaotic' scene at nursing home devastated by Texas fertilizer blast
• West, Texas, man charged with destructive device to plead not guilty

Lm Otero / LM Otero/AP

An investigator pauses while sifting through the debris of the destroyed fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2013.

DALLAS — Investigators will announce on Thursday the results of a probe into what caused last month's fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, that killed 14 people and obliterated sections of the small town, a state agency said on Tuesday.

The State Fire Marshal's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will release the findings of their joint investigation at a news conference, according to a news release from the fire marshal's office.

Texas officials on Friday announced a criminal investigation into the blast.

Investigators confirmed a week ago that ammonium nitrate stored at the West Fertilizer Co detonated in the April 17 explosion. The cause of the fire and subsequent blast at the facility, which also injured around 200 people, is expected to be announced by officials on Thursday.

More than 70 investigators have developed more than 200 leads, from which more than 400 interviews have been conducted, investigators said last week.

Investigators believe the fire started somewhere in the 12,000-square-foot fertilizer and seed building.

Looking into the cause of the initial fire, they have eliminated the weather, natural causes, anhydrous ammonia, a railcar containing ammonium nitrate, and a fire within the ammonium nitrate bin.

Additionally, they said water used during fire-fighting activities did not contribute to the cause of the explosion as some had speculated.

Bryce Reed, a Texas paramedic who was among the first responders at the explosion site, was arrested last week for possession of pipe bomb components. State officials have said no evidence linked Reed's arrest to the plant disaster.

Reed is expected to plead not guilty in federal court on Wednesday, his lawyer said.

A volunteer paramedic in the Texas town rocked by a massive fertilizer plant explosion in April will plead not guilty to charges that he possessed an explosive device, his lawyer said Saturday.

AP

This photo provided by the McLennan County Sheriff's office shows Bryce Reed in a booking photo on Friday, May 10, 2013.

Bryce Reed, 31, is due to appear in court on Wednesday. He was arrested after a friend told a local sheriff that Reed possessed explosives, authorities said.  Reed had gathered pieces for a pipe bomb, according to court documents, but had not assembled the parts into a working explosive.

Reed had “no involvement whatsoever in the explosion at the West, Texas, fertilizer plant,” the man’s attorney said in the statement. “Mr. Reed was one of the first responders and lost friends, family, and neighbors in that disaster. Mr. Reed is heartbroken for the friends he lost and remains resolute in his desire to assist in the rebuilding of his community.”

The massive fertilizer plant blast on April 17 killed 14 people and injured 200 more, damaging dozens of local businesses and flattening homes closest to the plant. One official said that no evidence of a bomb has been found in connection with the blast.

Authorities announced Friday they had launched a criminal investigation into the blast, but the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement it would “not speculate whether the possession of the unregistered destructive device has any connection to the West fertilizer plant explosion.”

Reed took on a significant profile in the aftermath of the disaster in the small town, giving interviews and delivering the eulogy for victim Cyrus Reed. “I will avenge this. This will get right. I don’t care what it takes. I will get square,” Reed said in an interview at the time.

The man’s attorney denied allegations that Reed possessed a destructive device and said Reed looked forward to his day in court.

“We ask that Mr. Reed’s family, friends and community not rush to judgment,” the attorney said in the statement. “Mr. Reed has been through significant hardship in the wake of the disaster in West and he has been responded and served his community with honor and strength.”

NBC News' Pete Williams and Tracy Connor contributed to this report.

Related:

• Texas blast rescuer arrested, criminal probe opened
• Ammonium nitrate caused Texas blast, officials say
• Texas fertilizer plant

Eric Gay / AP

Honor guards stand in front of caskets prior to a memorial service for first responders who died in last week's fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, on Thursday, in Waco, Texas.

President Obama, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and firefighters from across the country were among those who paid tribute at a packed memorial service to the victims of a Texas fertilizer plant blast that killed 14 people on April 17, many of whom were first responders. 

The deadly plant explosion decimated part of the small Texas city of West, with a population of only about 2,800. More than 200 people were injured in the blast; 12 who died were volunteer firefighters.

"These are volunteers: Ordinary individuals blessed with extraordinary courage," Gov. Perry said at Thursday's service. "They knew full well that another explosion was a possibility."

Caskets draped in large American flags were lined up in the front of the memorial, which was being held at Baylor University in Waco, located about 20 miles from West. The memorial was comprised of speeches from officials, as well as videos of victims' families and friends, who shared memories of their loved ones.

Obama told the crowd that West was an exemplary place.

"We need people who so love their neighbors as themselves that they’re willing to lay down their lives down for them," he said. "America needs towns like West." 

In the videotaped eulogies, relatives shared how those who died were passionate about protecting the people of West.

"Words cannot express how much I'm going to miss my husband. He was my everything," said Kelly Pustejovsky, wife of Joey Pustejovsky, a member of the West volunteer fire department who was killed, in a video broadcast during the service.

Six of Pustejovsky's other relatives spoke in the video too, including his grandmother, who laughed through her tears about her grandson's love of fried chicken, and said she knew he was in heaven now.

Obama said, "I cannot match the power of the voices you just heard on that video, And no words adequately describe the courage that was displayed on that deadly night ...What I can do is offer the love and support and prayers of the nation."

He also noted that last week was filled with overwhelmingly horrific news events, between the Boston bombings and the deadly blast in Texas.

"While the eyes of the world may have been fixed far away, our hearts were also here," he said.

The service was hosted by the National Firefighters Foundation. Chief Ronald Siarnicki, executive director of the foundation, told mourners, "This disaster happened last week, but we know the ground is still shaking, and will be for a long time."

"It could not break this community," Siarnicki said. "Remember this: Come tomorrow or the next day or anywhere from here on out, you are not alone, because the fire service will be here for you."

Obama flew to the somber event after attending the dedication of the George W. Bush presidential library in Dallas on Thursday morning. 

Texas Sen. John Cornyn and first lady Michelle Obama also attended Thursday's memorial service.

The large crowd inside Baylor was dotted with people wearing T-shirts that read, "God bless West."

Before the memorial, 1,000 firefighters from across the U.S. held a half-mile-long procession in Waco to honor the fallen firefighters.

Investigators have located a 93-foot-wide and 10-foot-wide deep crater where the central Texas explosion happened, but still don't know what caused the blast.

A 15th person who was injured in the blast — a 96-year-old man — succumbed to his injuries the following day, according to NBCDFW.com. 

Meanwhile, on Monday, the first individual lawsuit was filed as a result of the explosion. A single mom who lived next door to the West Fertilizer plant is seeking up to a million dollars after she and her 14-year-old son "lost all their worldly possessions," the suit says.

Drinking water in West is still not potable more than a week after the chemical fertilizer blast. Residents have boiled their water since the explosion, which shook the ground so much, it registered as a 2.4-magnitude earthquake.

Related content:

• Texas single mother files lawsuit in plant explosion
• Officials still don't know what caused Texas fertilizer explosion

   

Residents have returned to a Texas town cratered by a massive fertilizer plant explosion that ripped open an apartment complex, damaged a school, and collapsed a nursing home, killing 14 people and injuring 200 more.

It is still not clear what caused the initial fire that sparked the explosion on April 17 in West, Texas.

About 1,500 students from the tiny town near Waco, Texas will go back to school in makeshift classrooms or a neighboring district on Monday. For many, the damage at home will take longer to repair.

“Every time I close my eyes, all I can think about is the explosion,” West High School senior Edi Botello said. “People running around. People evacuating. There was one point I couldn’t even talk. I just stuttered.”

Slideshow: Fertilizer plant explosion in Texas

Rod Aydelotte / AP

The huge blast rocked a small Texas town causing an unknown number of deaths and destroying nearby homes.

Launch slideshow

Those who lived close to the West Fertilizer Company plant say they were lucky to escape with their lives – but putting them back together will take time.

“I don’t think they can fix it, we have ceilings down,” NBCDFW.com quoted David Polansky as saying, referring to his family’s home. “My mother died in 2002, and that feeling is almost the same, you’re just crushed to see all this.”

Officials have opened what is known as Zone 2, a four-block area close to the plant, on Sunday. The area closest to the plant remains closed. Residents in the least damaged homes were allowed back Saturday night, with a curfew in place.

“What can you say?” said resident Jimmy Polansky, who claims his house was targeted by looters.

Investigators said they have found no evidence of criminal activity in the blast that tore through West just before 8 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

That’s a small comfort to resident Dee Dablin. The walls of her home about a half mile from the plant remain standing, but the inside of is wrecked.

Slideshow: West, Texas: 'They are all neighbors'

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In this small Texas town, people pitch in to help out following the deadly blast at a local fertilizer plant.

Launch slideshow

“It’s unbelievable, just unbelievable,” Dablin said. “But I’m alive, that’s all. I’m alive.”

The roof of an apartment building that sat across a strip of railroad tracks from the fertilizer plant was collapsed, the structure’s windows blown out, and debris scattered for hundreds of yards.

“Several blocks we had projectiles or shrapnel that has been found of different sizes,” assistant state fire marshal Kelly Kistner said, according to NBCDFW.com. “Smaller pieces have been found blocks away.”

The displaced congregation of the First Baptist Church in West held prayer services in a field on Sunday as the town took in the full extent of the damage.

“None of this makes sense. It is frightening, it is surreal,” Pastor John Crowder said at the service, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. “Do you feel like I do, that we’re walking through a science fiction movie?”

Related:

• West, Texas gathers to pray, remember
• Satellite photos show West, Texas, before and after explosion
• ’Chaotic’ scene at nursing home devastated by Texas fertilizer blast

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:59 AM EDT

The fertilizer plant that exploded on Wednesday, obliterating part of a small Texas town and killing at least 14 people, had last year been storing 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would normally trigger safety oversight by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Yet a person familiar with DHS operations said the company that owns the plant, West Fertilizer, did not tell the agency about the potentially explosive fertilizer as it is required to do, leaving one of the principal regulators of ammonium nitrate - which can also be used in bomb making - unaware of any danger there.

Fertilizer plants and depots must report to the DHS when they hold 400 pounds or more of the substance. Filings this year with the Texas Department of State Health Services, which weren't shared with DHS, show the plant had 270 tons of it on hand last year.

A U.S. congressman and several safety experts called into question on Friday whether incomplete disclosure or regulatory gridlock may have contributed to the disaster.

"It seems this manufacturer was willfully off the grid," Rep. Bennie Thompson, (D-MS), ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said in a statement. "This facility was known to have chemicals well above the threshold amount to be regulated under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Act (CFATS), yet we understand that DHS did not even know the plant existed until it blew up."

Company officials did not return repeated calls seeking comment on its handling of chemicals and reporting practices. Late on Friday, plant owner Donald Adair released a general statement expressing sorrow over the incident but saying West Fertilizer would have little further comment while it cooperated with investigators to try to determine what happened.

"This tragedy will continue to hurt deeply for generations to come," Adair said in the statement.

Failure to report significant volumes of hazardous chemicals at a site can lead the DHS to fine or shut down fertilizer operations, a person familiar with the agency's monitoring regime said. Though the DHS has the authority to carry out spot inspections at facilities, it has a small budget for that and only a "small number" of field auditors, the person said.

Firms are responsible for self-reporting the volumes of ammonium nitrate and other volatile chemicals they hold to the DHS, which then helps measure plant risks and devise security and safety plans based on them.

Since the agency never received any so-called top-screen report from West Fertilizer, the facility was not regulated or monitored by the DHS under its CFAT standards, largely designed to prevent sabotage of sites and to keep chemicals from falling into criminal hands.

The DHS focuses "specifically on enhancing security to reduce the risk of terrorism at certain high-risk chemical facilities," said agency spokesman Peter Boogaard. "The West Fertilizer Co. facility in West, Texas is not currently regulated under the CFATS program."

The West Fertilizer facility was subject to other reporting, permitting and safety programs, spread across at least seven state and federal agencies, a patchwork of regulation that critics say makes it difficult to ensure thorough oversight.

An expert in chemical safety standards said the two major federal government programs that are supposed to ensure chemical safety in industry - led by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) - do not regulate the handling or storage of ammonium nitrate. That task falls largely to the DHS and the local and state agencies that oversee emergency planning and response.

More than 4,000 sites nationwide are subject to the DHS program.

"This shows that the enforcement routine has to be more robust, on local, state and federal levels," said the expert, Sam Mannan, director of process safety center at Texas A&M University. "If information is not shared with agencies, which appears to have happened here, then the regulations won't work."

Hodgepodge of regulation
Chemical safety experts and local officials suspect this week's blast was caused when ammonium nitrate was set ablaze. Authorities suspect the disaster was an industrial accident, but haven't ruled out other possibilities.

The fertilizer is considered safe when stored properly, but can explode at high temperatures and when it reacts with other substances.

"I strongly believe that if the proper safeguards were in place, as they are at thousands of (DHS) CFATS-regulated plants across the country, the loss of life and destruction could have been far less extensive," said Rep. Thompson.

A blaze was reported shortly before a massive explosion leveled dozens of homes and blew out an apartment building.

Slideshow: Fertilizer plant explosion in Texas

Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

A huge blast rocked a small Texas town causing an unknown number of deaths and destroying nearby homes.

Launch slideshow

A U-Haul truck packed with the substance mixed with fuel oil exploded to raze the Oklahoma federal building in 1995. Another liquid gas fertilizer kept on the West Fertilizer site, anhydrous ammonia, is subject to DHS reporting and can explode under extreme heat.

Wednesday's blast heightens concerns that regulations governing ammonium nitrate and other chemicals - present in at least 6,000 depots and plants in farming states across the country - are insufficient. The facilities serve farmers in rural areas that typically lack stringent land zoning controls, many of the facilities sit near residential areas.

Apart from the DHS, the West Fertilizer site was subject to a hodgepodge of regulation by the EPA, OSHA, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Office of the Texas State Chemist.

But the material is exempt from some mainstays of U.S. chemicals safety programs. For instance, the EPA's Risk Management Program (RMP) requires companies to submit plans describing their handling and storage of certain hazardous chemicals. Ammonium nitrate is not among the chemicals that must be reported.

In its RMP filings, West Fertilizer reported on its storage of anhydrous ammonia and said that it did not expect a fire or explosion to affect the facility, even in a worst-case scenario. And it had not installed safeguards such as blast walls around the plant.

A separate EPA program, known as Tier II, requires reporting of ammonium nitrate and other hazardous chemicals stored above certain quantities. Tier II reports are submitted to local fire departments and emergency planning and response groups to help them plan for and respond to chemical disasters. In Texas, the reports are collected by the Department of State Health Services. Over the last seven years, according to reports West Fertilizer filed, 2012 was the only time the company stored ammonium nitrate at the facility.

It reported having 270 tons on site.

"That's just a god awful amount of ammonium nitrate," said Bryan Haywood, the owner of a hazardous chemical consulting firm in Milford, Ohio. "If they were doing that, I would hope they would have gotten outside help."

In response to a request from Reuters, Haywood, who has been a safety engineer for 17 years, reviewed West Fertilizer's Tier II sheets from the last six years. He said he found several items that should have triggered the attention of local emergency planning authorities - most notably the sudden appearance of a large amount of ammonium nitrate in 2012.

"As a former HAZMAT coordinator, that would have been a red flag for me," said Haywood, referring to hazardous materials.

Related:

Texas fertilizer plant also stored explosive chemical used in Oklahoma City bomb

Investigators: Texas plant explosion death toll raised to 14

'Our hearts are broken': Texas town grieves in wake of plant blast

Mayor of Texas town rocked by blast: 'We're going to fight back'

Texas fertilizer plant also stored explosive chemical used in Oklahoma City bomb

Mike Stone / Reuters

Ronald Tanner of Jonesboro, Texas carries supplies to be delivered to residents of West displaced by the massive explosion of a fertilizer plant in the town of West, near Waco, Texas April 18, 2013. Rescuers worked in cold rain on Thursday to find survivors amid the rubble of houses destroyed in a fiery explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant filled with hazardous chemical tanks.

By Devin Coldewey, Contributing Writer, NBCNews.com

Charity and medical organizations have been mobilizing since Wednesday night when the massive explosion of a West, Texas fertilizer facility that killed as many as 15 people and injured at least 150 more.

While rescuers and emergency workers pick through the rubble of homes and buildings destroyed by the blast, aid organizations like the American Red Cross and Salvation Army have been providing food and shelter to the displaced and injured.

In addition to the cost of medical care and emergency services, the recovery and rebuilding of the area surrounding the plant will take both time and money. If you would like to contribute, here are some organizations that are working to help survivors and to rebuild:

American Red Cross of Central Texas
The Red Cross is providing water and other immediate needs to survivors. There's a Web page here with some numbers and addresses for further information on the organization's work relating to the West explosion, as well as how to donate. You can donate to the Red Cross's efforts in general by texting REDCROSS to 90999, or visit the website to see how you can provide more localized help.

The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army mobilized five emergency mobile kitchens to the Texas area to help provide displaced residents with food. The group is also distributing warm clothes and blankets to people whose homes have been destroyed. You can donate directly to the Salvation Army's efforts using this online form.

The Blood Center of Central Texas
With so many injured, blood will be in high demand at hospitals and emergency stations. The Blood Center helps organize blood drives. You can join one of those efforts, or support the center by donating money via a link at its donation page. The demand for blood will continue to be high over the next several weeks, so also consider making an appointment to give later in the month.

Catholic Charities, Central Texas
This Catholic aid organization works with the Red Cross and handles more long-term case management. Monetary donations can be made here, and the organization asks that items be donated to the local St Vincent de Paul centers.

Scott & White Healthcare
The non-profit health care organization, also the principal clinical research and education campus for The Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, is handling the treatment of more than two dozen of the residents injured by the explosion. Scott & White is also organizing blood drives over the next week.

West Independent School District
West's schools and other critical community infrastructure will likely be stressed by lack of resources over the months to come. You can donate directly to the district by filling out and mailing, or faxing in, this form (PDF).

Limbs for Life Foundation
Explosions like this one often result in serious limb trauma, leading to expensive rehabilitation and prosthetics. Limbs For Life helps people who need prosthetic care but can't afford it.

Rod Aydelotte / AP

Emergency workers evacuate the elderly from a damaged nursing home following an explosion at a fertilizer plant Wednesday in West, Texas.

Rescuers evacuating more than 130 elderly people from a nursing home during a fire at a nearby fertilizer plant were suddenly confronted with chaos and danger when an explosion ripped apart the building.

Many of the senior citizens at the West Rest Haven home are related to residents in the tiny Texas town of West, which has been devastated by the blast.

It's unclear how many were removed before the inferno at the West Fertilizer Company plant erupted in a earth-shuddering blast that killed between 5 and 15 people and injured at least 160 more.

Nursing home worker Lola Millhollin and another employee were wheeling two residents out through the building’s foyer at about 8 p.m. on Wednesday when disaster struck, she told the Associated Press.

Rod Aydelotte / Waco Tribune Herald via AP

Persons are seen pushing wheel chairs in front of a damaged nursing home following an explosion at a nearby fertilizer plant Wednesday, April 17, 2013, in West, Texas. An explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco caused numerous injuries and sent flames shooting high into the night sky on Wednesday.(AP Photo/ Waco Tribune Herald, Rod Aydelotte)

“I was trying to figure out exactly where we were supposed to be,” Millhollin said. “All of a sudden it just blew, I mean, everything went flying everywhere, and once that happened I looked around and debris was just down. Everything fell down, the ceiling fell down and the windows blew out.”

Workers went back into the damaged building and searched rooms for trapped residents, she said. Many of the elderly were panicked and in shock.

“I helped loosen debris so that we could wheel the ones that were out in the main part first,” Millhollin said. “We did the best we could with what we had, and we got them out safely. We were taking them out through broken windows, putting a mattress across the windows so we could get them out without getting them all cut up and stuff.”

Denise Day, a nurse at West Rest Haven, told the Waco Tribune-Herald that she heard the blast from her house, which is 23 miles from the plant. After hearing the details over her police scanner, she raced back to town to help evacuate residents, she told the paper.

William Burch entered the damaged building with his wife, a retired Air Force nurse, and found water filling the hallways and wires dangling from the ceilings. The two found some residents trapped in wheelchairs in their rooms. The scene was “completely chaotic,” Burch told the AP.

“They had Sheetrock that was on top of them,” Burch said. “You had to remove that.”

The extent of the damage was not clear. All of the residents had been moved to other rest homes, said David Moon, 85, a former president and current board member.

“We just have to wait and probably tear down and rebuild,” said Moon, who has lived in West since 1950. He was on the nursing home’s board when it was founded in 1966, he said.

“We’re doing OK here,” Moon said. “We just have a lot of work to do.”

Related:

• 5 to 15 killed, 160 wounded in 'devastating' Texas chemical plant blast
• 'The whole street is gone': Bloodied eyewitnesses describe Texas explosion horror
• Witness: Texas plant blast lifted my truck off the ground