Victims of the West explosion were told during their latest town hall meeting that 100 tons of debris was taken away last weekend by 600 volunteers putting in a combined 4,000 hours.
Mayor Tommy Muska added the city council has approved moving in trailers as temporary housing for one year, until May 2014. Muska says West “is not turning into a trailer park.”
Muska was among those emphasizing that residents take all assistance available from FEMA. “Don’t be shy and don’t let pride get in the way here. If I can sign up with them you can too. Promise me that because this is not the time to be proud.”
Victims heard from those still involved in recovery efforts from wildfires in Bastrop County nearly two years ago. Paige Webb drove up to give tips intended to help West residents clear hurdles learned the hard way in Bastrop. Among them, keep receipts for everything, “including Taco Bell”. She said her neighborhood qualified for a HUD grant to build 121 houses. But only 17 would be built because of a lack of receipts and mortgages that were paid off instead of using settlement checks to rebuild.
Muska says the city council is working with the Waco Foundation and Catholic charities to develop a formula to best distribute money coming from private and individual donations.
CONTRIBUTE TO RELIEF EFFORTS IN WEST THROUGH THE BRAZOS VALLEY MEDIA GIVING BACK FUND USING THE BUTTON TO THE RIGHT:
Below is the You Tube video of the May 5 town hall meeting.
Information courtesy of the Texas Department of Insurance:
May 6, 2013
The investigation into the origin and cause of the West Fertilizer Plant Fire and Explosion is ongoing. The investigation will not be complete by May 10. The investigation will take 1-2 weeks beyond May 10.
The following causes related to the initial fire have been eliminated: weather, natural, anhydrous ammonium, the railcar containing ammonium nitrate, and a fire within the ammonium nitrate bin. Additionally, water used during fire fighting activities did not contribute to the cause of the explosion.
The investigation has revealed, to date, that the origin of the fire was in the fertilizer and seed building. The investigators continue to work on pinpointing an exact location of origin.
To date: SFMO and ATF have developed 237 leads, from which 411 interviews have been conducted. On average 60-70 investigators are on site daily assisting with the investigation. Approximately 29 state and federal agencies have assisted on the scene.