Government or official record

West Fertilizer Explosion and Fire

U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board

Where this source supports the record

Each entry separates the article’s editorial relevance note from its exact, section-level claims. A bibliography link without a direct claim is labeled plainly.

Engineering failures · 17 April 2013
The West Fertilizer Company Explosion

West Fertilizer Company explosion site · United States

Open article references →

Why editors use it here
Independent process-safety investigation of storage, response, siting, oversight, and recommendations.
1. Quick read
  On 17 April 2013, a fire at West Fertilizer Company in West, Texas, heated stored fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate until it detonated.
  Reviewed 26 July 2026
2. Trigger and conditions
  A fire of undetermined cause began in the seed room and spread into the fertilizer building.
  Reviewed 26 July 2026
3. Uncertainty
  Ammonium-nitrate detonation and storage conditions are established.
  Reviewed 26 July 2026
4. Why it matters
  The explosion was not only a fertilizer chemistry problem.
  Reviewed 26 July 2026