A memorial created in 2017 stood across the street` from where the fertilizer plant exploded in West.
As the saying goes, I wasn’t born here, but I got here as soon as I could. And here is the small Czech town of West, north of Waco. I knew about this charming town long before I followed my Texas roots to settle here in the land of my forebears, who go back to the post-Civil War period.
I remember with razor-sharp clarity the night I watched a story on the evening news detailing how 30 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded in a West fertilizer plant on April 17, 2013, at 7:51 in the evening. Five years later, my husband and I settled in West. It was only then that I understood the full scope of the explosion that registered as a 2.1 magnitude tremor and blasted a crater in the ground nearly 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep.
Fifteen people died in the tragedy, 12 of them volunteer firefighters who responded to a fire before it triggered the explosion that turned the scene into a war zone. In moments, 350 homes were destroyed or damaged, a nursing home came down like a tornado had roared through, and the emergency medical services building buckled and fell. Tommy Muska, the mayor then and still today, estimated that there was $200 million in damage to the city and its schools and businesses.
The destruction was so severe that many outsiders projected it would be West’s demise. Those outsiders, however, didn’t grasp the soul of this town. “The city of West will not be defined by the explosion but by the resilience and the spirit of the citizens to rebuild their community,” Muska said last fall. And that is exactly what has happened, in a remarkably short period of time.
Anyone who visits West these days won’t find any physical evidence of blast damage. In the 10 years since the disaster, there have been more than 1,000 residential and commercial building permits issued, 82 new homes and three new schools built, 123 remodels completed, and over $10 million in infrastructure improvements made. Currently, there are five subdivisions being built, in all price ranges.
A person has to wonder: How did this small town pull itself up by its bootstraps in the face of such overwhelming tragedy?
In short, the blast brought people together in unexpected ways. Their resilience and staunch faith made them stronger and more united than ever. They are a people who have proved themselves unshakable, even in the face of profound heartache and grief.
Perhaps Muska said it best when 10 years ago he proclaimed, “This town will not die on my watch.” He was not alone in his commitment. The entire town lived it, believed it and made sure West would not only survive but would thrive.
And indeed it has.
