From the first sign of trouble – to the deadly blast – mere minutes passed.
At roughly 7:29 p.m., residents and a West police officer report smoke at the West Fertilizer Company.
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The officer then confirmed flames in the facility's storage building and notified the West Volunteer Fire Department.
As firefighters are dispatched to the scene a police officer begins evacuating the nearby city park. Other emergency responders report to nearby neighborhoods to alert residents.
![West explosion animation](https://ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/05e33f6/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1152x648+0+0/resize/1152x648!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd6%2F41%2Fbfd22a7b450693381fc2859993ba%2Fwest-animation-2-2.gif)
West fire officials at the scene begin battling flames, as other volunteer firefighters in town for training also respond when the city's sirens are activated.
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Just 20 minutes after the initial reports of smoke, the west fertilizer company explodes.
15 people die – 12 of them are first responders.
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More than 200 other people are hurt. Dozens of buildings were damaged or destroyed stretching more than a half-mile away – including schools, a nursing home, houses, and an apartment complex.
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Three years after the fire in 2013, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announces investigators believe the fire was intentionally set, with all other possible causes eliminated.
A decade later though, there's still no arrests in the case, and a $50,000 dollar reward remains unclaimed.