Lawsuits from Texas Fertilizer Plant Blast now Total 6

The deadly Central Texas fertilizer facility explosion has now spawned six lawsuits, including one from the family of a volunteer firefighter killed in the blast.

Fourteen people died and more than 200 were injured by the April 17 blast in the small Central Texas town of West. Dozens of buildings were destroyed or severely damaged.

West volunteer firefighter Morris Bridge was among the 14 killed. His family is among the latest to sue Adair Grain Inc., operator of West Fertilizer Co., the Waco Tribune-Herald reports. Another is Joshua Zarecor, a man blinded while visiting a friend at a nearby nursing home when the plant exploded.

Also suing are two insurance companies, a nursing home resident and a West couple. The blast caused an estimated $100 million in damage.

Two Texas lawmakers are looking into the plant explosion and launching inquiries into what oversight the state does on hazardous materials.

In a letter, Democratic Sen. Rodney Ellis of Houston asks the Texas Environmental Quality Commission how the state can improve its oversight and suggests creating “buffer zones,” the Houston Chronicle reports.

Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Joe Pickett of El Paso has called eight state agencies with have oversight on the plant or the explosion. The House Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee chairman wants a count of Texas facilities like the West Fertilizer plant to determine if a need exists for a database of such facilities.

Topics Lawsuits Texas