A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant here has left up to 15 people dead, a figure that may rise, said local police officials. More than 150 people have been treated for injuries. Miguel Bustillo has the latest. 
 
 Annotated Map of the Site A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant at West Fertilizer Co. in the small north-central town of West, Texas, left between five and 15 people dead, a figure that is expected to rise. View Graphics Photos: Plant Explosion View Slideshow AP A plume of smoke rises from a fertilizer plant fire in West, Texas. 
 
 WEST, Texas—This small town just off I-35, known in central Texas as a good place to pull off the highway for Czech pastries, spent Thursday coming to grips with a landscape of flattened homes and diminishing hopes that friends and neighbors will be found alive in the aftermath of a devastating explosion. 
 
 The blast Wednesday night at a fertilizer plant here has left more than a dozen dead, and 150 injured. It destroyed a school and 75 or so homes—damaging a sizable portion of a tightknit town of 2,800 with a Czech heritage that stretches back generations. 
 
 Enlarge Image Close Associated Press Firefighters conduct a search-and-rescue mission on Thursday at an apartment destroyed by the explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. plant in West, Texas, on Wednesday evening. The blast followed a fire at the facility. 
 
 The majority of the dead are believed to be first responders, who had raced to the scene to try to tame a fire at the plant, not knowing the mammoth blast was coming. The explosion had the force of a 2.1 magnitude earthquake, seismologists said. 
 
 Law-enforcement officials are still sifting through the rubble in search of survivors, but none are expected, said Tommy Muska, the town's mayor. Mr. Muska, who lost his own home on Wednesday, is a volunteer firefighter himself—as well as an insurance agent in town. 
 
 Industrial Disasters in the U.S. Read more about fatal plant explosions and other industrial disasters in the United States since World War II. View Graphics 
 
 "Our town is definitely hurting," he said. His office was flooded with insurance claims. 
 
 On Thursday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he asked the federal government for a disaster declaration to mobilize help for the town, about 80 miles south of Dallas. Gov. Perry said he had spoken with President Barack Obama, who was on his way to Boston for a memorial service for victims of Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon. 
 
 The incident began with a fire at the West Fertilizer Co., a small privately owned plant on the edge of town, around 6 p.m. Wednesday. Volunteer firefighters tried to extinguish the blaze. About two hours later, a thunderous explosion ripped through the plant, sending a column of smoke hundreds of feet into the air and damaging buildings in a five-block radius. 
 
 More Video What's the likely cause of the massive fireball responsible for up to 15 deaths in West, Texas? What is anhydrous ammonia and how is it made? WSJ's Jason Bellini has "The Short Answer." Image: Erick Perez via Associated Press Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion Caught on Video 
 
 The slender town of West stretches only 20 blocks or so along the interstate. At its widest spot, it is about 10 blocks across. 
 
 The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it would send investigators to determine if the fire and explosion was "accidental or criminal," spokesman George Semonick said. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said that it was sending a "large investigation team" to the scene. State officials have set up air monitoring nearby. 
 
 Sgt. William Patrick Swanton, a Waco police spokesman who is helping out the city's smaller neighbor, said Thursday there is no indication the blast was anything other than an industrial accident. The Texas Department of Public Safety said it could take up to six months to determine the cause of the fire. 
 
 The worst ever industrial accident in the U.S. was also caused by an explosion of ammonium nitrate, as was possibly the case here, and also took place in Texas. In that blast, in 1947, some 581 people died aboard a ship docked near Texas City. 
 
 Dan Halyburton, a spokesman for the American Red Cross who toured West, described the damage around town as unlike anything he had seen before. "It wasn't like a tornado or hurricane. It looked more like someone had taken a grinding wheel and just chewed up walls and roofs." When people return to their homes, he said, "It's going to be really traumatic." 
 
 Among those killed was Captain Kenny Harris of the Dallas Fire-Rescue service. He lived in West and was trying to lend a hand at the time of the explosion, the service said. 
 
 Arthur Garland, owner of a West car-restoration business, said his sons played sports with Mr. Harris's three boys, who were considered some of the best athletes in a town that centered on baseball. 
 
 Mr. Harris was about to retire, Mr. Garland said, and had bought a boat on which he had planned to spend a lot of time. 
 
 "This is a great community and I don't have any doubt in my mind we will pull together," Mr. Garland said. "But we lost some good people." 
 
 Other confirmed dead included five West volunteer firefighters and four volunteer emergency medical technicians, according to the mayor. 
 
 "It makes me feel very sick," said Mr. Muska. 
 
 He said the local firefighters had never specifically prepared to battle a fertilizer-plant fire. "Every town in a rural area has one," he said. "It is a ticking time bomb that went off yesterday." 
 
 The former cotton-farming community has come through hard times before, but nothing like this, residents said. The community drew Czech immigrants, who kept their heritage alive through the generations with an annual festival and a bakery that specializes in traditional pastries. On Thursday, the Czech ambassador to the U.S. was on his way to West to offer support. 
 
 For decades, the fertilizer plant in West has been a local fixture. As the town grew, homes and schools were built in closer proximity. A park is right across the street. 
 
 "It was always just there. You never thought about it," said Brian Sykora, who was raised in West. 
 
 He had just finished mowing his lawn in the evening calm when, he said, he felt a sudden whoosh of force. He looked north, he said, "and saw a huge mushroom cloud" over near his parents' house. 
 
 Mr. Sykora and his wife leapt into their truck and drove toward the cloud. His parents and brother were standing in their front yard, unharmed, watching their neighborhood burn. The windows of their home had been blown out. Pieces of their ceiling had fallen. Nearby, the school was ablaze, its gym roof collapsed. 
 
 "It is just numbing," said Mr. Sykora. 
 
 Zak Covar, executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said the facility had been in West since 1962. In 2004, it was required to receive two air-emissions permits. "In 2004, they were supposed to come in and get reauthorized," Mr. Covar said. "They failed to do so, and I hate to speculate why." 
 
 The plant's owner couldn't be reached for comment. 
 
 In 2006, an odor complaint was received by the environmental-quality commission. When it investigated, the state learned that West Fertilizer hadn't applied for the required permits, according to the commission. The issue was resolved when the facility applied for, and received, the permits. "The permit was the resolution," Mr. Covar said, and no fine was issued. 
 
 The difference between life and death came down to luck and timing, residents said. The mayor, Mr. Muska, was on his way to help his fellow volunteer firefighters, but wasn't there yet when the plant exploded. His wife, Lisa, was planting flowers at church; she returned to find their house leveled. 
 
 Many residents displaced from their homes gathered in the pews at the West Church of Christ, trading escape stories and sharing details about the whereabouts of friends, family and neighbors. 
 
 "Cellphones don't work so the only way to find out what happened to people is to ask folks around town," said Gary Parma, 50, who came to the church with his wife, Diane. The Parmas, who own Al's Cleaners in West, were on the deck of their home when they suddenly saw the house of a neighbor two doors down go up in smoke. Clad in their polka-dot and plaid pajamas, the Parmas grabbed their dog, Boo, and fled. They said they don't know whether their neighbors are alive or dead. 
 
 —Miguel Bustillo, Daniel Gilbert, Erica E. Phillips and Tamara Audi contributed to this article. 
 
 Write to Shelly Banjo at shelly.banjo@wsj.com, Ann Zimmerman at ann.zimmerman@wsj.com and Miguel Bustillo at miguel.bustillo@wsj.com 
 
 A version of this article appeared April 19, 2013, on page A1 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: A Grim Day for A Small Town. ||||| CLOSE Derrick Hurtt captures video of the West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion with his 12-year-old daughter in the car. On the video you hear her yell, "I can't hear." The blast injured at least 160 people and caused multiple fatalities near Waco. VPC 
 
 Mayor says at least 10 first responders among those killed in explosion that officials say was likely an industrial accident. 
 
 West High School senior Mackenzie Wernet is embraced by fellow students after praying for the victims and survivors the day after the West Fertilizer Company explosion April 18, 2013, in West, Texas. Wernet's home was destroyed. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images) Story Highlights Facility exploded as firefighters fought blaze 
 
 Death toll still unknown 
 
 Four-block area "totally decimated" 
 
 WEST, Texas — Emergency teams went house to house through mounds of debris Thursday searching for bodies and possible survivors of the earthquake-like blast at a fertilizer company Wednesday night, which sent a ball of fire and burning embers into nearby homes. 
 
 State investigators would not confirm the number of deaths from the explosion at the West Fertilizer Co., in this small town 20 miles north of Waco. As many as 160 others were injured. Initial reports put the count as high as 15, and later estimates provided to the mayor's office put the toll at more than 30. 
 
 But in an interview with USA TODAY late Thursday, West Mayor Tommy Muska said revised estimates put the death toll closer to about 15 people, including 10 first responders. 
 
 Muska said the dead include five members of the West Volunteer Fire Department who were trying to put out a still-unexplained blaze, four EMS workers and an off-duty Dallas firefighter who pitched in. Not all the bodies have been recovered but all are assumed dead. 
 
 Two volunteers who showed up to help fight the blaze are also missing and presumed dead, he said. 
 
 The remaining fatalities include fertilizer company workers and residents in several devastated blocks of this north-central Texas agricultural town about 80 miles south of Dallas. 
 
 "It's just a tragic, tragic incident," Muska said. 
 
 The blast obliterated the West Fertilizer Co., which caught fire about 25 minutes before the explosion Wednesday night. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images) 
 
 Between 50 and and 75 homes and buildings — including an apartment complex, the junior high school and a nursing home — were destroyed or seriously damaged. 
 
 "The apartment complex looks like it was the site of a bombing, the kind you see in Baghdad," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said at an afternoon news briefing. "It's utterly destroyed." 
 
 He also said railroad tracks to the west of the blast site were fused together and a playground was obliterated. 
 
 The blast, which rocked the ground with the force of a magnitude-2.1 earthquake, could be felt as far as 45 miles away. 
 
 "We risk our lives everyday. Those firefighters knew what they were going into," Waco police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said. "They went in there to save lives, and that's what they did. A few of them lost their lives in doing so." 
 
 
 
 Officials said there was no initial indication that the blast was anything but an industrial accident, although agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene investigating, along with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. 
 
 The facility, which receives fertilizer by rail and distributes it to local farmers, declared in a risk-management plan filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2011 that it did not have sprinklers or other fire-safety measures in place because it was not handling flammable materials, the Associated Press reported. 
 
 Last summer, records show, the company paid a $5,250 fine and took "corrective actions" after the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration found safety violations, including not having a security plan to transport flammable anhydrous ammonia and not properly labeling the tanks. 
 
 The state requires that all facilities handling anhydrous ammonia to have sprinklers and other safety measures, a top official with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality told AP. 
 
 The commission last inspected the West Fertilizer facility in 2006, another agency official said. Records also show that the last time the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration visited the business was in 1985, when an inspector fined it $30 fine for a serious violation in storing anhydrous ammonia. 
 
 Firefighters conduct search and rescue of an apartment destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, April 18, 2013. (Photo: LM Otero, AP) 
 
 As a storm front moved through the area Thursday morning, teams were carefully sifting through the charred remains of the explosion for survivors, looking under beds, inside collapsed closets, and rummaging through debris for any sign of life. 
 
 Swanton said that it was a good sign that emergency teams were still in a "search and rescue" mode because it indicated that they still hoped to find more survivors. 
 
 "A lot of tedious, meticulous searching," he said. "They want to make sure they don't miss anyone." 
 
 CLOSE Aerial video shows smoldering ruins in West, Texas, the morning after an explosion at a fertilizer plant killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160 others. Powered by NewsLook.com Newslook 
 
 Texas Gov. Rick Perry called the devastating explosion "truly a nightmare scenario" for the small farming community. He declared a state of emergency for McLennan County and dispatched National Guard troops. 
 
 The governor also said that President Obama called him from Air Force One en route to Boston to offer federal aid. 
 
 Earlier, Mayor Muska told reporters that his town of 2,800 people needs "your prayers." 
 
 Officials said it did not appear that the town was threatened by chemical fumes from the plant, which was still smoldering hours after the explosion. 
 
 Emergency teams had responded to a fire call at the plant at 7:29 p.m. CT. The explosion erupted 24 minutes later, as the firefighters, police and paramedics were battling the blaze and attempting to evacuate nearby residents. 
 
 "They were responding to the scene and were actively fighting the fire at the time the explosion occurred," Swanton said. 
 
 First responders to the West Rest Haven Nursing home removed 133 residents, many in wheelchairs, from the rubble. 
 
 Jimmy Girad, 27, a builder, was in his home about 7 miles from the blast site when the explosion rattled windows and scared his two young sons. His initial thought: a training jet from a nearby military base must have crashed nearby. Then he saw smoke coming from the fertilizer depot and began getting calls from family members. He hopped in his truck and sped off toward the smoke to help. 
 
 He arrived at the West Rest Haven Nursing Home and began wheeling elderly residents there away from the blast site, he said. Nearby, relatives' homes had collapsed roofs and there were piles of charred rubble where friends' homes once stood. The destruction and chaos reminded him of the devastation he witnessed while volunteering on the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. 
 
 "It's hard to take it all in, that this happened here," Girad said. 
 
 He said the depot had been there so long that no one thought it could inflict so much damage. 
 
 "It never crossed my mind something like that could happen," Girad said. 
 
 Bill and Polly Killough had just sat down to watch TV when the explosion roared into their living room. The front door blew in and the windows exploded at the same time, followed by the roof collapsing and a thunderous boom, Polly Killough, 64, said. 
 
 Her first thought was: tornado. But after clawing out from under the debris and stepping outside, she saw no thunderclouds or storm. 
 
 "What the hell just happened?" she asked. 
 
 Around her, neighbors homes were stripped of siding, their roofs caved in and doors and windows blown in. The scene reminded her of TV images she'd seen from Iraq. 
 
 "Now I know what soldiers go through when they go through an [improvised explosive device]," she said. "In an instant, just total destruction." 
 
 In one video, posted on YouTube, a young girl, Khloey Hurtt, is taping the fire from about 300 yards away while sitting in a truck with her father, Derrick. The force of the blast knocks them both backward. 
 
 A person looks on as emergency workers fight a house fire after a nearby fertilizer plant exploded Wednesday in West, Texas. (Photo: Rod Aydelotte, AP) 
 
 In the video, Khloey can be heard pleading with her father, "Please get out of here, please get out of here, Dad, please get out of here. I can't hear anything." 
 
 Derrick Hurtt later told NBC's Today show, "I'm pretty sure it lifted the truck off the ground. It just blew me over on top of her. It all happened so quick that things just kind of went black for a moment." 
 
 "The injuries that we are seeing are very serious,'' said Glenn Robinson, CEO of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center. "There are a number of patients that will be going to surgery. ... It's a very, very unfortunate situation.'' 
 
 Robinson said that 10 or 12 of the injured were in critical condition. Two people were in surgery as he spoke and two more were awaiting surgery, he said. 
 
 Robinson said an unknown number of people with minor injuries were being treated at a triage center set up by emergency medical personnel at a high school football field. 
 
 Swanton, who was one of the first officers on the scene, said the chaos and devastation was staggering. 
 
 "I've been policing for 32 years and seen some pretty rough stuff in that time," he said. "I've never seen anything of this magnitude." 
 
 The blast and ball of fire reduced a middle school to rubble and seriously damaged least 50 houses. A 50-unit apartment building looked like a "skeleton," according to one state trooper. Some structures as far away as a half-mile were destroyed. 
 
 Julie Zahirniako said she and her son, Anthony, had been playing at a school playground near the fertilizer plant when the explosion occurred. She was walking the track, he was kicking a football. 
 
 The blast threw her son 4 feet in the air, breaking his ribs. She said she saw people running from the nursing home and the roof of the school lifted into the sky. 
 
 "Hit the ground, hit the ground," Zahirniako heard a neighbor yell. 
 
 "The fire was so high," she said. "It was just as loud as it could be. The ground and everything was shaking." 
 
 The West Independent School District announced that it will be closed until Monday, when students will resume classes on the high school and middle school campus in Connally, about 10 miles from the blast zone. Other nearby districts are providing supplies, furniture, personnel and other needs for the displaced students. 
 
 Texas Trooper D.L. Wilson said the damage was comparable to the destruction caused by the April 19, 1995, bomb blast that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. 
 
 Muska, who is a firefighter as well as mayor, urged residents to stay indoors as protection from the possibility of chemical fumes in the area. 
 
 Wilson said half the town had been evacuated due to damage or the threat posed by the fumes. 
 
 "When that north wind changes, we might have to evacuate the other side of town,'' Wilson said. 
 
 There were no immediate details on the number of people who work at the facility, which was cited by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2006 for failing to obtain or to qualify for a permit, the Associated Press reported. The agency acted after receiving a complaint in June of that year of a strong ammonia smell. 
 
 In 2001, an explosion at a chemical plant killed 31 people and injured more than 2,000 in Toulouse, France. The blast occurred in a hangar containing 300 tons of ammonium nitrate, which can be used for both fertilizer and explosives. The explosion came 10 days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S., and raised fears at the time it was linked. A 2006 report blamed the blast on negligence. 
 
 Contributing: William M. Welch, Cathy Grossman, USA TODAY; Associated Press 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/175cedk ||||| The neighborhood surrounding a Texas fertilizer plant that erupted in a thunderous explosion is gone, and the residents here know they've lost more than the buildings that went up in flames. 
 
 Mourners attend a service at St. Mary's Church of the Assumption Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mourners attend a service at St. Mary's Church of the Assumption Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mourners attend a service at St. Mary's Church of the Assumption Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co.... (Associated Press) 
 
 This Thursday, April 18, 2013 aerial photo shows the remains of a nursing home, left, apartment complex, center, and fertilizer plant, right, destroyed by an explosion in West, Texas. Rescuers searched... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this aerial photo, law enforcement and rescue personnel search the damage to an apartment complex from the explosion of the West Fertilizer plant on Thursday, April 18, 2013, in West, Texas. A massive... (Associated Press) 
 
 Workers walk among debris Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. Wednesday night killed as many as 15... (Associated Press) 
 
 Workers walk among debris Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. Wednesday night killed as many as 15... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mourners attend a service at St. Mary's Church of the Assumption Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mangled debris of a fertilizer plant are seen Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion leveled the plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. Wednesday night killed... (Associated Press) 
 
 Even as investigators were tight-lipped about the number of dead from the blast _ authorities say more than 160 are injured but have not yet released a firm death toll _ the names of the dead were becoming known in the town of 2,800, even if they hadn't been officially released. 
 
 Believed to be among them is a small group of firefighters and other first responders who may have rushed toward the fire to fight it before the blast. At a church service at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church on Thursday night, the mourning was already starting. 
 
 "We know everyone that was there first, in the beginning," said Christina Rodarte, 46, who has lived in West for 27 years. "There's no words for it. It is a small community, and everyone knows the first responders, because anytime there's anything going on, the fire department is right there, all volunteer." 
 
 One victim who Rodarte knew and whose name was released was Kenny Harris, a 52-year-old captain in the Dallas Fire Department who lived south of West. He was off duty at the time but responded to the fire to help, according to a statement from the city of Dallas. 
 
 Authorities spent much of the day after Wednesday night's blast searching the town for survivors. It was not clear why they were having trouble tallying an official death toll. At one point, they said they believed five to 15 people were among the dead, but later backed off giving any firm estimate. Three to five volunteer firefighters were believed to have perished. 
 
 Searches continued early Friday morning, and authorities may release more information about the death toll later in the day, said Texas State Trooper D.L. Wilson. "Hopefully," he said. 
 
 Even without a full picture of the loss of life, what was becoming clear was that the town's landscape was going to be changed forever by the four-to-five block radius leveled by the blast. An apartment complex was badly shattered, a school set ablaze, and as many as 80 homes were seriously damaged. 
 
 Residents were still being kept out of a large swath of West, where search and rescue teams continued to pick through the rubble. Some with permission made forays closer to the destruction and came back stunned, and it was possible that some residents would be let closer to their homes on Friday, emergency workers said. 
 
 Garage doors were ripped off homes. Fans hung askew from twisted porches. At West Intermediate School, which was close to the blast site, all of the building's windows were blown out, as well as the cafeteria. 
 
 "I had an expectation of what I would see, but what I saw went beyond my expectations in a bad way," said Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott after his visit. "It is very disturbing to see the site." 
 
 McLennan County Sheriff Matt Cawthon said the area surrounding the destroyed fertilizer plant is a highly populated neighborhood. He described it as "devastated" and "still very volatile." Ammonium nitrate _ commonly used as fertilizer _ was found at the scene, but he didn't know if any of the chemical remained. 
 
 Fifteen years ago, Brenda Covey, 46, lived in that now leveled apartment complex across the street from the plant. 
 
 On Thursday, she learned that two men she knew, both volunteer firefighters, had perished. Word of one came from her landlord because they live in the same complex in nearby Hillsboro. The other was the best man at her nephew's wedding. 
 
 "Word gets around quick in a small town," said Covey, who spent her whole life living in and around West. 
 
 Firefighter Darryl Hall, from Thorndale, which is about 50 miles away from West, was one of the rescue workers who was going from house to house and checking to see if anybody might have been inside. 
 
 "People's lives are devastated here. It's hard to imagine," Hall said. 
 
 The Wednesday night blast was apparently touched off by a fire, but it remained unclear what sparked the blaze. A team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives still had not been able to begin investigating the scene because it remained unsafe, agency spokeswoman Franceska Perot said. 
 
 The West Fertilizer Co. facility stores and distributes anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer that can be directly injected into soil, and a blender and mixer of other fertilizers. 
 
 Records reviewed by The Associated Press show the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration fined West Fertilizer $10,000 last summer for safety violations that included planning to transport anhydrous ammonia without a security plan. An inspector also found the plant's ammonia tanks weren't properly labeled. 
 
 The government accepted $5,250 after the company took what it described as corrective actions, the records show. It is not unusual for companies to negotiate lower fines with regulators. 
 
 In a risk-management plan filed with the Environmental Protection Agency about a year earlier, the company said it was not handling flammable materials and did not have sprinklers, water-deluge systems, blast walls, fire walls or other safety mechanisms in place at the plant. 
 
 State officials require all facilities that handle anhydrous ammonia to have sprinklers and other safety measures because it is a flammable substance, according to Mike Wilson, head of air permitting for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. 
 
 But inspectors would not necessarily check for such mechanisms, and it's not known whether they did when the West plant was last inspected in 2006, said Ramiro Garcia, head of enforcement and compliance. 
 
 That inspection followed a complaint about a strong ammonia smell, which the company resolved by obtaining a new permit, said the commission's executive director Zak Covar. He said no other complaints had been filed with the state since then, so there haven't been additional inspections. 
 
 At the church service, the Rev. Ed Karasek told the hundreds gathered that it would take time for the community to heal. 
 
 "Our hearts are hurting, our hearts are broken," he said. The non-denominational gathering for prayer and song was intended to honor those who rushed toward the danger and those who found themselves too close. 
 
 "I know that every one of us is in shock," he said. "We don't know what to think." 
 
 "Our town of West will never be the same, but we will persevere." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Michael Brick, Nomaan Merchant and Angela K. Brown and video journalists John L. Mone and Raquel Maria Dillon in West; writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas, Ramit Plushnick-Masti in Houston and Seth Borenstein and Jack Gillum in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| The bodies of 12 people have been recovered after an enormous Texas fertilizer plant explosion that demolished surrounding neighborhoods for blocks and left about 200 other people injured, authorities said Friday. 
 
 Mourners attend a service at St. Mary's Church of the Assumption Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mourners attend a service at St. Mary's Church of the Assumption Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mourners attend a service at St. Mary's Church of the Assumption Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co.... (Associated Press) 
 
 This Thursday, April 18, 2013 aerial photo shows the remains of a nursing home, left, apartment complex, center, and fertilizer plant, right, destroyed by an explosion in West, Texas. Rescuers searched... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this aerial photo, law enforcement and rescue personnel search the damage to an apartment complex from the explosion of the West Fertilizer plant on Thursday, April 18, 2013, in West, Texas. A massive... (Associated Press) 
 
 Workers walk among debris Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. Wednesday night killed as many as 15... (Associated Press) 
 
 Workers walk among debris Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. Wednesday night killed as many as 15... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mourners attend a service at St. Mary's Church of the Assumption Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Mangled debris of a fertilizer plant are seen Thursday, April 18, 2013, a day after an explosion leveled the plant in West, Texas. The massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. Wednesday night killed... (Associated Press) 
 
 Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Jason Reyes said it was "with a heavy heart" that he confirmed 12 bodies had been pulled from the area of the plant explosion in West, about 20 miles north of Waco. 
 
 Even before investigators released a confirmed number of fatalities, the names of the dead were becoming known in the town of 2,800 and a small group of firefighters and other first responders who may have rushed toward the plant to battle a pre-explosion blaze was believed to be among them. 
 
 Reyes said he could not confirm Friday how many of those killed were first responders. 
 
 Rescue crews spent much of the day after Wednesday night's blast searching the town for survivors, and Reyes said those efforts were ongoing. He said authorities had searched and cleared 150 buildings by Friday morning and still had another 25 to examine. 
 
 The mourning had begun at a church service at St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church the previous night. 
 
 "We know everyone that was there first, in the beginning," said Christina Rodarte, 46, who has lived in West for 27 years. "There's no words for it. It is a small community, and everyone knows the first responders, because anytime there's anything going on, the fire department is right there, all volunteer." 
 
 One victim Rodarte knew and whose name was released was Kenny Harris, a 52-year-old captain in the Dallas Fire Department who lived south of West. He was off duty at the time but responded to the fire to help, according to a statement from the city of Dallas. 
 
 With search and rescue efforts continuing, what became immediately clear was that the town's landscape was going to be changed forever by the four-to-five block radius leveled by the blast. An apartment complex was badly shattered, a school set ablaze, and a nursing home was left in ruins. 
 
 Residents were kept out of a large swath of West, where search and rescue teams continued to pick through the rubble. Some with permission made forays closer to the destruction and came back stunned, and it was possible that some residents would be let closer to their homes on Friday, emergency workers said. 
 
 Garage doors were ripped off homes. Fans hung askew from twisted porches. At West Intermediate School, which was close to the blast site, all of the building's windows were blown out, as well as the cafeteria. 
 
 "I had an expectation of what I would see, but what I saw went beyond my expectations in a bad way," said Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott after his visit. "It is very disturbing to see the site. ||||| WEST — In this small, shattered town 80 miles south of Dallas, residents awaiting word on missing loved ones spent most of Thursday finding hope in not knowing for sure. 
 
 But Thursday evening, officials finally laid out what they knew so far: that eight to 10 bodies had been recovered in the devastated areas around Wednesday’s horrific explosion at West Fertilizer Co. and that they expected to find about a half-dozen more inside the facility. 
 
 Although the death toll remained uncertain, it’s a far smaller number than the 35 to 40 that West Mayor Tommy Muska had calculated earlier. “It’s very good news,” Muska told The Dallas Morning News. “I’m very relieved that it’s not that high.” 
 
 But for many in West, a close-knit town of about 2,800 from which more than 160 people were taken to hospitals with injuries, other answers would have to wait. Many spent the day unsure whether their homes survived the sudden, devastating explosion, so powerful that it registered on seismographs hundreds of miles away. 
 
 And determining the cause of the fire at West Fertilizer that triggered the explosion could take a while, more uncertainty for a town searching for answers. 
 
 Muska’s fatality estimate included four EMS members, five volunteers with the West Fire Department, an off-duty Dallas fire captain who lived in West and two volunteers who had seen the fire and stopped to help. 
 
 One resident of West Rest Haven, a nursing home across from the fertilizer company, died from injuries suffered in the explosion, according to the state agency that regulates nursing homes and David Moon, the home’s former board president and a co-owner. 
 
 The rest, Muska guessed, were residents who lived within a few blocks of the fertilizer company. Their homes took the full impact of the explosion, with windows blown out, roofs ripped off, walls toppled, with some burning brightly into the night. 
 
 Many homes and other buildings were said to be flattened. Through the day Thursday, search and rescue crews moved carefully from house to house near the site of the explosion, the buildings so fragile that they had to shore up damaged ceilings and walls before they could search for survivors. 
 
 “It’s a very slow and methodical search,” Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said Thursday morning. “There are some true heroes out there that aren’t police, that aren’t firefighters.” 
 
 Condolences poured in from around the world, including from Pope Francis, along with help from around the state. President Barack Obama called Gov. Rick Perry to offer federal support, and the governor quickly declared McLennan County a disaster area as a preliminary step to receiving federal aid for cleanup and reconstruction. 
 
 “We greatly appreciate his call and his gracious offer of his support, and very quick turnaround of the emergency declaration that will be forthcoming, and his offer of prayers,” Perry said of Obama. 
 
 Later, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst told CNN that the cause was still a mystery and could remain so for weeks. 
 
 “Unless we know something else, right now it’s an industrial accident,” he said. “But we’re going to get to the bottom of this to find out what happened because we don’t want to see this ever happen again.” 
 
 Search incomplete 
 
 Officials initially said there were no environmental concerns. But later, inspectors from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the federal Environmental Protection Agency tried to determine whether it was safe for rescuers to be on the site. 
 
 Muska said the Texas Forest Service, which helped coordinate the search and rescue operation, told him late Thursday that crews had searched 80 percent of the devastated area of town, including a nursing home and a 50-unit apartment complex. The teams found the eight to 10 bodies in that search but hadn’t entered the fertilizer company building yet. 
 
 Residents were eager to get back into their homes, to see if there was anything to salvage. The state’s U.S. senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, planned to visit Friday to tour the damage and show support. But Sgt. Jason Reyes of the Texas Department of Public Safety said it was unclear when the affected area would be opened to residents. 
 
 “It’s still a very volatile situation,” added McLennan County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Matt Cawthon. 
 
 In a town like West, almost everyone knows the missing and the presumed dead, among them, Joey Pustejovsky, West’s city secretary and a member of the volunteer fire department. 
 
 “We have a mayor and we have Joey,” said resident Laura Bettge, who said she spent Thursday morning praying and crying. “He’s a friend to everybody, but he’s also our leader. 
 
 “‘Secretary’ doesn’t really describe what he does,” she said. “We don’t have a city manager, so he kind of just helps run everything.” 
 
 The only victim publicly identified Thursday was Capt. Kenny Harris of Dallas Fire-Rescue, a 52-year-old father of three grown sons who lived in West and had volunteered to help fight the fire. 
 
 “He was one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met,” said Presley Hoffman, 18, who said she knew Harris’ son. 
 
 At least two people with family members in the West Fire Department said they were told their loved ones were missing and presumed dead. 
 
 But even in the most terrible hours West has ever known, residents banded together, helping one another get through that first night and the hard day that followed. 
 
 Outpouring of help 
 
 Hundreds of residents hauled cases of bottled water, bags of food and other supplies to the West Community Center. Volunteers said they were so inundated with supplies they had to open other drop-off locations at nearby schools and churches. 
 
 “It’s been a nonstop flow of goods,” said Dwayne Young, a volunteer who guided traffic outside the community center. 
 
 The Red Cross opened a shelter for displaced residents but quickly realized no one was waiting for help. 
 
 “We really didn’t need it because they stayed with family and friends,” said Dan Halyburton, a public affairs volunteer with the Red Cross. “That says there’s something special about this community.” 
 
 Volunteers from nearby towns, and some from as far away as Dallas, flooded into West early Thursday, eager to help in any way they could. 
 
 “People from all over have been here,” said Derek Phipps, a Dallas insurance adjuster who arrived at dawn to volunteer. “They don’t even know where to go. They just drove into town.” 
 
 Asked what survivors needed most when they arrived at the community center, Phipps smiled sadly. 
 
 “Right now, they just need a hug,” he said. “Everybody is stone-faced and in shock. So we try to smile, give them a hug, ask how we can help.” 
 
 Members of San Antonio’s fire department helped put up an inflatable medical tent at the community center, and chaplains and traumatic stress counselors waited around at the library Thursday afternoon, but families weren’t coming in as they had expected. 
 
 “I’d say there are more people here to help than in the town, I’d guess,” said Chuck Bridge, a member of the Austin Disaster Relief Network. “It’s just unusual, but it’s early yet.” 
 
 Perry, who grew up in an even smaller community, said, “This tragedy has most likely touched every family, has touched practically everyone in that town.” 
 
 Along the edges of the blast area, the people of West were beginning to put things in order again. Shop owners cleaned up the broken glass. School officials started sorting out the challenges ahead, with their intermediate school largely destroyed. 
 
 West is the sort of town where people pitch in, said Wesley Adcock, who had been delivering concrete for a road project south of town when he heard the explosion. 
 
 He ended up ferrying three residents from the nursing home to the hospital in Waco, one on each trip. 
 
 The third asked a special favor. When Adcock got back to town, she said, maybe he could go to her room and pick up her Bible, her prayer book and her bingo winnings and bring them to her. 
 
 West, he said, is the kind of place where people do things like that, where helping neighbors comes naturally. 
 
 “That’s what this town is all about,” Adcock said. 
 
 Staff writers Matthew Watkins, Eva-Marie Ayala, Tristan Hallman, Robert T. Garrett, Karen Brooks Harper, Christy Hoppe, Todd J. Gillman and Michael E. Young contributed to this report. Brandon Formby reported from West and Matthew Haag from Dallas. 
 
 bformby@dallasnews.com 
 
 mhaag@dallasnews.com
– Authorities are coming to grips with the extent of the devastation following a Wednesday night explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant. About 200 people were injured and 12 bodies have been recovered so far, the AP reports. That's far fewer than the nearly 40 victims Mayor Tommy Muska had earlier estimated, the Dallas Morning News notes, but the Waco Tribune-Herald says a few more dead are expected. Among the victims are believed to be at least 10 first responders, the mayor tells USA Today, including firefighters and EMS workers who were battling a fire at the plant when the explosion occurred. Meanwhile, some 50 to 75 buildings were ruined or suffered severe damage. As to what caused the explosion, it could be six months before we know for sure, the Wall Street Journal notes—though nothing has suggested it wasn't simply an accident. The company didn't have sprinklers, blast walls, or fire walls installed because it wasn't dealing with flammable materials, it said in a 2011 federal filing, per the AP. It was fined $10,000 for safety violations last year, though the sum was lowered to $5,250.