here. now, understand that obviously, we're dealing with some pretty intense chemicals at a fertilizer plant like that -- >> caller: right. >> reporter: have you heard of any rumors of people who were inside or nearby who have to get quarantined after being exposed to that? >> caller: i have heard that the town is quarantined off. that's why you can't get in or get out right now is because of a pneumonia. they are trying to clear that up. but that's -- just what i am hearing. i mean, i haven't been home to watch the news or listen to the news. >> reporter: can you give us a good indication for folks at home who haven't visited this part of texas, what is your home town like? do a lot of people work at the fertilizer plant? >> caller: yeah. it's a pretty big fertilizer plant. i live in axle and it's maybe 20, 15 minutes away from west. west is known for their colatchies and their danishes

and all of that. it's a farming community. so through the summer months, my son worked at a fertilizer plant. i don't know if it's the right one because there are two in town. and, i mean, there is just, you know, nobody knows anything right now. >> reporter: okay. my last question, can you tell me about the situation right after it happend? i know it sounds like it was very chaotic. but did you see people getting airlifted to hospitals? did you hear the ambulances and people getting -- getting treated by first responders? >> caller: we just saw the med-evac helicopters and then the highway was full of ambulances, fire trucks, sheriff, police cars and both going -- both different ways. i mean, it looked like they would stream up towards north, towards west and then just load up and come back. i mean, but as far as i know, i talked to my son on the phone and he's like, nobody is allowed in west or out. you can't get ahold of anybody because he's trying to get ahold

of -- like i said, we have a family friend that is the same age as my kid and we can't get ahold of her to find out if her and her baby girl are okay. >> reporter: sandra gray, joining us. you are very much in our thoughts and prayers. we hope everyone comes out of this situation safely. thank you. >> caller: all right, thank you. >> we have a reporter from the dallas bureau here. casey, what do you have? any new information? >> reporter: we have brand-new informs coming in right now. the mayor of west texas has reported that up to seven firefighters -- [overlapping dialogue] >> unfortunately, i have to interrupt to you go to the press conference right now. we will be back with you shortly. thank you. >> have always been opening their arms on everyone who passes through here on i-35. our hearts and prayers go out to them. this is an unbelievable tragedy that's happened here tonight. what we are looking at now, we have the gas companies turning all the gas off to the areas where the explosion happened.

we do not need any more help. if you can get that out. firefighters and ems are coming from hundreds of miles away. right now, we are overflowing with help. we do not need any more help as far as that goes. tomorrow morning, the mayor's going to speak again. right now, we have tremendous amount of injuries, probably over 100 injuries at this time -- at this time. we do have confirmed fatalities. the number is not current yet. it could go up by the minute, we near there searching the area right few. making sure that it's safe for any of the other people who are around there and the firefighters are trying to be safe and go back in because there is a lot of -- the wind blowing, changing area and hydrous is still smoking and there are little small flames. they don't want to get the firefighters hurt or injured inside the blast area. i walked through the blast area. i searched some houses earlier

tonight. massive -- just like iraq. just like the murray building in oklahoma city. same kind -- hydrous exploded. so you can imagine the damage we are looking at out there. i know there were at least 75 -- 50 to 75 houses damaged. there is apartment complex that has about 50 units in it that was completely... just skeleton standing up. there is a nursing home in the area that had 133 people in the nursing home. we have them evacuated. i don't know what their injuries are there right now. but all injuries have been removed from the scene and taken to local hospitals in the waco area. we have numerous agencies helping us, all the way from the dallas fort worth area, mcclenny, all the surrounding areas. we have had a great turnout to come out to help us get through this tragedy in this small community. i wish i could get you more

information. all the injured right now have been taken care of. we are going to go back in and do another house-by-house search and see if anybody else -- victims are in the houses. that's going to be going on all night. we have command post set up for law enforcement and a command post set up for the emergency unit also. we have a triage at the community center, right over here across the interstate from us. >> what's the status of the plant right now? >> it's still smoldering. right now, they have not given us an update on it. it was smoldering and there is still active... you know, other ingredient there is on the facility. so we don't want that to... to explode again. right now, they cannot get the firefighters in there. we are worried about people right now, not property. we want people to be safe. that's our main goal right now, getting the people safe and getting them out of there. >> do you have a rough number on lives lost? >> do i not know right now.

it's going to be a number, i can't give you a number. but there is going to be a number. hopefully, alt6:00 a.m. i. early estimates are 50 to 60, 70 maybe? >> i cannot confirm or deny that. i wish i could tell you something, but do i want have that number. >> is this fire under control? >> the firefighters are not fighting the fire right now. so it's still smoldering. there are not any large flames. but they're in the area, but they cannot get close to it due to the toxic fumes that are coming off of it right now. >> is there a danger to the fumes outside the plant? >> there is. they have cleared the area, about an 8- to 10-block area and they have moved people back farther. half of that town is totally evacuated. what we are worried about now is when the north -- supposed to be a norther come through. when the north wind changes, we might have to evacuate on the other side of town. >> that's because of the danger of fumes. >> guys, i am going to stop you

there. let us get more information. once we get that, we will come back out and give what you we can. i know you have a million questions. but we have to get those answered for you. >> we heard from the sheriff. in this incident, there are over 100 injuries. he did say that we do have fatalities and i quote him on that. although we do not have a number right now. there are still flames smoldering inside of that fertilizer plant and in fact, it is a, emitting toxic fumes. so there is an 8-to 10-block radius that is evacuated. and if the winds do shift, there will be more evacuations for folks of west, outside of waco. we are joined by casey segill. alarming news we are hearing, worst-case scenario. can you give me an update from the mayor? >> reporter: yeah, as we were saying before the press conference got started. the mayor was saying there were upwards of 7 firefighters on the

scene at the time of the explosion. it is feared that the firefighters are dead. you just heard that safety official talking about the number of fatalities that has not been confirmed because obviously, this is still very early on. there are still imminent threats for the neighborhood, as you heard, with the chemical toxins in the air and fires that are smoldering. there was a concern for a while that there was potential a possibility of even more explosion. so they have to really keep that -- that in mind before they move fire crews in there closer. but we should should just retrace our steps and follow up with the reporting from the last several hours because this happened at 8:00 local texas time. 9:00 eastern. that is that the massive fire was burning at the fertilizer plant in west texas. for people who are not familiar with this area, it is 20 miles north of waco. it is about 80 miles south of dallas.

and there are firefighters on the scene that were battling some type of a fire when there was this massive explosion that we have been talking about. the explosion obviously impacting the fire firefighters that were there for the original call. we have heard from the ems director in this particular community that upwards of 60 to 70 people could in fact be dead in the wake of this explosion. but again, the fatality numbers not confirmed. you heard that safety expert talking about anhydrous ammonia. that's a very volatile chemical, upwards of 56,000 gallons of the stuff was stored at this particular fertilizer plant. some of the eyewitnesses reporting that a fireball, some 100 feet tall shot into the sky. we have seen some amateur video on youtube. we are working to get that vetted with our legal department to bring that to you, our viewer.

just incredible pictures. reports that about 10 different buildings immediately caught fire, right after this explosion, including the middle school in town, that nursing home that the safety official just talked about, where there were roughly, he said, about 130 people at the nursing home, who were injured and had to be evacuated. and then he mentioned that nearby apartment complex with 50 units. he used the word a skeleton to describe what is left of that particular apartment complex. really, blocks and blocks of this very finey farming community, sounds like it is just about leveled. then, of course, the big concern still at this hour, the chemical fumes in the air and there is concern, you heard him say that this winds could shift. and it could blow those fumes into a different part of town and additional evacuation orders will have to be ordered. we have seen from some of those aerial pictures we have been

showing all night on fox news of the football field where a triage area was originally set up and then a call went out for all the ambulances, all the emergency services to respond and go to that football field at a triage area. then the danger spread. and they have the chemical in the area, and again, the fear of explosion. so they moved that triage center back to a nearby community center and that is where -- it is all of those triage duties are being carried out. people being airlifted out. they than upwards of 9 life flight-type helicopters, medical evacuations helicopters were landing and taking the most critical patients out of there. viread reports that people were airlifted as far as dallas fort worth hospitals. of course, our very strong level 1 trauma centers. waco is a big city. not as big as dal aof course. so patients were taken there. we imagine ploal area hospitals

inundated with the flow of casualties, so folks were brought as far as the dallas fort worth area. just an incredible situation. it is very fluid. >> he initially said in the press conference, they are getting a lot of help. he said, we do not need any help. but it does sound like, especially initially afterwards there was really a slew of resources. now, like you said, people were sent to a number of hospitals. do we know at this point, are the hospitals telling us how many pates by chaps are still in the hospitals? and if there are still people coming in at this hour? i mean, it's almost 1:15 a.m. and it happened at 8:00 p.m. do we know if there are people still being treatd? >> reporter: people are still being treated. as far as how many patients, that is not ironed out. you heard that, in that press conference that happened moments ago, that frankly, they don't have a lot of time to gather

information to even really to members of the press because, understandably so, because this is such a large-scale incident, it is literally all hands on deck. i was listening to scanner traffic, streamed via the web. and at one point, it was all happeneds on deck situation. and all ambulances in the vicinity, everyone was dispatched to that area. in fact, there were not enough blrngs we understand to get patients to hospitals and very early on from the local news outlets in the area that pates and victims were loaded up into, you know, ups cars and squad cars and police were floors transporting some of the wounded to the hospitals just to get them the medical care that they needed right away. really difficult to wrap your mind around when you talk about how large-scale of an incident

this is. you know, just continuing to sort of unfold and the details coming you out. >> we will be watching you tomorrow. we know you are in direct communication with the mayor. we expect to get an update, hopefully, as early as 6:00 a.m. central time. we will be watching. thank you very much. do be safe tonight. thank you. >> joining us now on the phone is joe ariel. i know you live nearby in waco, texas. and in fact, you are about 20 miles from the site when the explosion happened last night around 8:00 p.m. you heard it even though you that were far away. you can bring our viewers up to speed on what you heard last night? >> caller: yeah. i was 20 mile away on the west side of waco. i was inside a building, working. and it just sounded like a dull roar. i thought it was like a thunder rolling and then i checked facebook and i found out there was an explosion.

and doing more research, i found out what had happened. >> you had to drive closer to the scene to the go home, late last night. you can give our viewers, really a good idea what have you saw going home. did you see helicopters and ambulances and first responders? >> caller: yeah. definitely on the way home. i drive past hillcrest hospital, which is where they are taking a lot of casualties. there was the helicopter, taking off from there. i passed at least a dozen ambulances on -- on the way home. headed towards the hospital. not only that, there was ambulances passing me and fire trucks passing me on the interstate, headed towards west. >> now, do you know anyone -- do you have fren ors family that happen to work at this plant, how big is the plant? how many people work there? are they dealing with dangerous chemicals? >> i am not familiar with how many people work at the plant.

but there are several fertilizer plants in this area, west, texas, is a big farming community. i know there is at least two in that town. the tanks and the chemicals that they use -- really have volatile chemicals. they have them in very high volume. so it wouldn't -- it doesn't surprise me that the explosion is as big as it was. you know, the first responders, i am sure that's going to be their major concern, the chemicals that haven't exploded or are still burning right now. >> are you in touch with anyone -- i know you are not necessarily close enough to the scene where you near risk of being evacuated. we heard from the sheriff. he said, there was an 8- to 10-block radius evacuated from the scene because of the small flame that is smoldering and emitting toxic fumes. are you in touch with can't get into their homes or hearing anything from local law

enforcement on how to treat the situation and react to the situation? >> caller: from what i am hearing on the local news, it was my understanding was that they had to evacuate most of west. i have a few friends and co-workers that live in that area. i don't think any of them live that close to -- to -- the fertilizer plant. but i definitely have friends in the area that i am going to try to get ahold of to make sure they are a-okay. >> as far as resources, are there a number of hospitals? we are hearing there are dozens, in fact, over a hundred injuries. are there enough resources and hospitals for people to get to to get treatment? >> caller: i would say. the hokier hospital is a level 1 trauma center and there is another large hospital in waco. there is a hospital in temple, just south of here. i think the resources isn't a problem, especially with the number of first responders that

have made it to the scene. >> i know you said it's a farming community. but has anything like this happened before, or living in waco, have you ever experienced fear of this happening or heard stories or safety precautions for things like this? >> caller: not that i am aware of. you hear about things that happened -- mines collapsing across the country. just random things that -- that -- disasters. but when it happens in your own backyard, it's kind of a shock and you are not really sure how to act. >> right. i know that obviously, the community is a little bit -- excuse me -- a lot of it in shock this early morning. what do you think's going to be happening over the next couple of days? are people going to be needing to donate blood? did they need volunteers? any word in the local community about that? >> caller: i heard that carter blood care has organized a blood drive to start early in the morning. that's the local waco.

viheard of numerous school districts that are offering facility, as far as for families that have been displaced. i know the local chapter of the red cross has been dispatched they are taking supplies to the scene to try to help anybody in any way they can. >> i know think so many people, their hearts are with waco, texas and west texas. can you give us a good idea of the folks there? the character there? we need to be send a lot of prayers to people there. can you let people know what folks are like in waco? >> caller: it's a really tight-knit community. there is a lot of heritage in west texas. there is a lot of... west texas is right beyond i-35. they are known for their -- for their food and pastries. they're just real friendly

people. >> right. you can sort of tell me what kind of impact this would have on the community? there are 3,000 folk who live in this area. this certainly is sending shock waves, especially if we are hearing there are up to 100 injuries and the sheriff said, they do have fatalities. what kind of impt is this going to have? >> caller: i can only imagine the impact it would have. i would compare it to -- a tornado hitting the town. i mean, it's going to be devastating to the town. i know that the school district, west school district has already said on their social media, they won't have classes tomorrow or friday afternoon -- or friday morning. they are going to re-assess the situation as the weekend progresses and as rescue efforts continue. >> all right, joe. thank you very much for joining us. you live nearby. you were 20 miles from the blast site and you felt the effects. thank you for joining us. our prayers are with you. >> caller: thank you. >> stay with us.

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>> i can't even absorb everything right now. you know, when i got to my mom, i was just like... i was just like... i was so worried about my brother, you know? that hijust talked to, told him where i was, you know? and i just... it's just so much. i mean, i feel like i'm numb. i can't even feel whatever it is that i am supposed to feel. >> this is a fox news alert. in washington, we are continuing to cover the devastation in west texas, right outside of waco, where we learned there was an explosion around 8:00 p.m. yesterday evening. joining us on the phone is becca stroud, who works at a motel 6 nearby in hillsborough, texas. i understand that you are swamped this evening with folks trying to find a nice clean place to stay. >> caller: that's correct. we are starting to get an influx of inquiries and calls.

i have had received one family that had to evacuate. it is ging definitely going to be a stressful situation for everybody with this circumstance. >> i know you must have been hearing just the number of stories, we are learning that there was over 100 injuries. we hearing from the sheriff. we do have news of fatalities but not a number at this point. what are you hearing from families? >> caller: so far, the family i did check in, they haven't been able to get ahold of everybody in the area. dihave the daughter of the family said she was able to speak to one of her friend who is does live within a mile of the fertilizer plant. but she was okay. but it did devastate their home. >> now, we are hearing that there are folks from an 8-to 10-block radius who have been evacuated and all of those folks need a place to stay. do you think you will see more people tonight and possibly tomorrow? >> caller: i believe so.

30 minutes ago, a volunteer from the emergency services in west contacteditous contact that we did have rooms available and to also verify the rates we were offering tonight w. these circumstances, we are giving our base discounted rate. >> now, we heard from the sheriff whoa said, it's just massive destruction. he compared it to iraq. he said it looked like the murray building from oklahoma city. one of the apartment complexes, almost looked like a skeleton. have you heard of anything like this? are folks really in a state of shock this early morning? >> caller: i would definitely say a state of shock and to give you an indication, we are about 15 miles north of west, directly on 35. at the time of the explosion, i was standing in the lobby helping a guest. all four of our lobby doors got blown open and slammed shut. we weren't aware of why that happened. i had a guest step out and say,

that was thunder? shortly after, we found out what had happened. but it reached us, even. >> people are banding together this evening. it's early morning. we anticipate that we will be wrapping our arms around your community. we know a lot of families are trying to reach loved ones. are they getting any luck? there are people in hospitals tonight? >> yes. i know i have had out-of-state relatives of guests staying in this hotel trying to frantically reach the guests in the hotel. i know it's been a struggle for people to get ahold of loved ones and friends. >> we anticipate to hear from authorities tomorrow morning. tell me about the community. i can hear in your voice, this affected you. you saw the doors shake. but we will have to take a break now. i appreciate you joining us. we will have more after the break. d. whether you're an allstate customer or not. all you have to do is call.

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don't miss our seafood dinner for two, just $25 at red lobster, where we sea food different. >> this is a fox news alert in washington, d.c. we continue to cover the explosion in west texas at a fertilizer plant. joining us on the phone, becca stroud. i wanted to bring you back because we do get cut off. you work at hillsborough, texas, in a motel 6. you said you were 20 miles from the scene. and you still felt the blast. you can recap that for me? it was pretty emotional? >> caller: sure. yeah. it is extremely. i have never experienced anything like that before where the percussion of an explosion

actually affected where i was, this far away. i was with a guest, literally, all four of our lobby doors got blown open and slammed shut, to the point where another guest came out of his room and was inquiring, was it a thunderstorm, an earthquake, what was going on? >> really unbelievable. i just wanted to ask but the community. you are going to be in our thoughts and prayers, obviously, all day and for months and years to come. you can give us a sense of what the community is like there? it seems like very close-knit community? >> caller: it absolutely is. i definitely equate it to a nice simple, small, quaint home town. everybody knows everybody. most definitely, this community is going to be rallying around each other, as well as the surrounding communities. >> we heard from the sheriff, perhaps over a hundred injuries that have you -- that you do have fatalities, but the number has not been released.

becca, i appreciate you joining us. we appreciate you. and thank you. >> caller: thank you. my thoughts and prayers go out to anyone involved. >> thank you. todd starnes from fox news radio. you have been giving us a lot of new information tonight. the very dire situation, in fact, still a small flame smoldering. sounds like there is still toxic fumes emitted from the facility. what else are you hearing? >> reporter: well, absolutely, elizabeth. earlier this evening, the toxic fumes were of such concern that the federal aviation administration actually implemented a no-fly zone over this area. so for quite sometime, we weren't able to see live shots what what have was happening because of the restrictions put in place by the faa. of course, the toxic fumes were a reason to evacuate many people from a triage that had been set up on the high school football

field there in the town of west. i am not sure people can understand the magnitude and th. [inaudible] -- it was liken to the oklahoma city bombing. just a tower of fertilizer exploding. [inaudible] not just the devastation but the power of this blast that literally ripped the back end off of a white pickup truck and blew the windows out. we are hearing stories like that all across town. you know, wednesday night in texas, it is normally church night. folks were coming out from their wednesday evening prayer meetings and bible studies and they were thrust into this explosion that happened around 8:00 central time. many people didn't get a lot of warning. we do have new information from the dallas morning news. they are telling us, first of all that the american red cross,

they areach are dispatching peoo help hundreds of people try to find somewhere to sleep and somewhere to live in the coming days. but we also understand that there are people not accounted for. among those who are not accounted for are the firefighters who were on the scene when this explosion happened. right now, they don't know where those firefighters are. that's a concern for, you know, for the rescuers, as they go door to door, searching house to house to try to find survivors. >> now, that's a point i wanted to make. for people who are just joining us. it sounds like there were two explosions. can you give us an indication of what you know of a timeline. was there a fire beforehand and were they already on the scene? just to clarify for our viewers? >> caller: that's right. earlier in the day, there had been a fire that had broken out.

a small fire. apparently, water got sprayed on the ammon num nitrate and it exploded, just like -- and as the dallas morning news is reporting, like the oklahoma city bomb. so there had been an earlier incident that. apparently was under control. and thane they came back and that's when this explosion happened. we don't really have a time frame right now... of how long that was, was it an hour, half an hour? we don't know. but we do know that there was this -- this massive explosion and those firefighters there on the scene were caught in that explosion. there have been -- there have been reports of fatalities. we do know that. we cannot -- fox news cannot confirm the number of fatalities. there are local reports that suggest there could be a significant death toll here. >> right. for folks at home, we talked about toxic fumes for that radius which was evacuated,

which could shift depending on the winds. you mentioned about the devastation. really, blocks away from this facility. any reports of homes and apartments? also, we are getting reports of a nursing home. is there significant damage to those facilities? >> reporter: we are understanding as far as five, six, even seven blocks, there is almost total devastation. homes have been destroyed. this apartment complex looks like it has been gutted. it's like a skeleton, i think is the term that the state trooper used to describe the damage in that press conference. there is a nursing home that sustained heavy damage. they have to evacuate around 100 or so patients. some of those individuals were injured by the glass, the force of the explosion blew out windows and caused a lot of debris to fly around.

someone described it almost as if it was a tornado. they were able to get all of the -- they believe they were able to get all the nursing home patients out and they were evacuated as safely as they could. but there were some injuries there. >> okay. excellent. we appreciate you joining us, todd. we are going to continue to stay in touch with you throughout the evening as we keep an eye on this situation and obviously, we will be hearing from the mayor in the morning. thank you very much for joining us. >> reporter: thanks. >> for viewers just tuning in. we heard from the trooper, over 100 injuries and there are fatalities. we will have more coming up on this ongoing story, coming up after the break. stay with us. online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade.

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>> we heard the explosion so we went ahead and hurried up and got into town. when we rolled into town, we pulled up at the retirement home because we knew they were going to need help. all the windos were wloan out, doors were gone. as we went into the believe, the ceiling was down. it was a situation to where we

had... the doors were out. of course, all the glass was blown out. we would get into each room and dlfs sheet rock on top of the patients. i would get that. the halls inspector deft station, the lights were down, the ceilings were down. >> reporter: how many people did you pull out? >> 16 people. >> reporter: you carried two? >> two at one time to try to get them out because i knew how bad it was. from there, we went to the next wing and made sure it was clear. >> this is a fox news alert in washington, d.c. we are continuing our coverage of the firstalizer plant explosion that happened in west texas, right outside of waco. we heard from a trooper earlier. there are over 100 injuries and there are fatalities. but at this time, authorities are not releasing a number. we expect to hear from the mayor of west texas, around 6:00 a.m. eastern time. for the time being, folks are now trying to get to lodging, if they are not able to get to

their homes because there is an 8- to 10-block radius evacuations. joining me is mike paital who works in an ecoinolog in hillsborough. although you are 20 miles away, i understand you still did hear the explosion? >> caller: yes. we d. we heard and felt the explosion. we thought in the beginning it was just like a thunderstorm because they said there was going to be lightening and thunderstorms coming in the area. but we checked outside and there was really nothing there. then we thought it might have been an earthquake, obviously, later, we learned it was that explosion in west that we felt here. >> how many miles away were you from the scene? >> caller: i would say about 19 miles. >> okay. now, could you physically feel the ground shake?

people around you -- did you feel alarmd? >> caller: yes, yes. like i said, we thought it was -- a huge thunderstorm in the beginning. then thought, well, there is no thunderstorms, so it would have been an earthquake. even the office door opened up on its own. the whole building vibrated to -- to our feelings there. >> nothing said, you have a number of folk who is are trying to find a safe place to get tonight. we know there is a radius around that facility that has been evacuated. are you getting people staying with you this evening? >> caller: yes. we are getting plenty of people. we got phone calls that are asking us to be on a stand-by, if needed. we are ready and willing to help as soon as that phone call comes in. >> are you hearing stories from any of the families? i mean there must be a pretty strong sense of fear right now.

>> caller: yes. actually... just as -- we don't get families that really came and talked to us. but the travelers that are stopping here at the hotel have told us that, you know, they have seen a big, big fire and that the traffic has been backed up a lot. and they're just, you know, hopeful that everything is okay. >> any indication that people are having a hard time getting ahold of, perhaps family or friends? i mean, it sounds like we have a large number of injuries and a large number of people who are scattered about the community. are you hearing any stories of people not being able to get in touch with loved ones? >> caller: no. we have not really gotten any -- any concerned or any type of phone calls to looking for family members in our area. but i can't say that, you know, elsewhere in this area, they are not doing that. >> now, we heard from the trooper earlier. he said that one of his concerns

was that the winds could shift and we have these toxic fumes in the air and more people could be evacuated. are you prepared for the possibility that you could be seeing more families coming to you guys? >> caller: yes. we are well prepared for that. like i said, they give us a heads up, letting us know that we might be -- you know, in need for the hotel lodging. we are prepared for any occasion, regarding that. >> we can see, our viewers are looking at a radar screen with a bout of severe weather coming your way. caller: yes. >> what i did want to ask you about the community. i can hear that what you experienced late last night, it seems terrifying. i want to hear, what would you like people ton about the area? our thoughts are with scput community banding together? >> caller: yes. first thing we want to say, if anybody's looking for lodging,

we will be more than willing to help out here. we have plent ev of rooms here. so definitely if they need help with lodging, we will definitely take care of them. and our thoughts and prayers does go out to everyone in west, texas, there. mike paital from the ecoinolog, thank you very much. we will continue to keep an eye on the situation and our thoughts and prayers are with you this early morning. thank you. >> caller: thank you. >> for folks who are just joining us, we continue to cover the situation out of west texas. we heard from a trooper, there are hundreds of injuries and reports of fatalities, which we will learn about at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. in the time being, stay with us here. we will continue with more updates after the break. ♪

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>> this is a fox news alert in washington, d.c., we continue to cover the explosion in a fertilizer plant in west texas, outside of waco. we heard from authorities, there are more than 100 injuries and there are fatalities. we will learn more about the details at 6:00 a.m. this morning. that being said, there is danger on the scene. there is a small flame still

smoldering. and there are toxic fumes being emitted from that facility. listen to what one first responder said. >> we are being told right now we have another tank that is caught fire. it is possibly about to explode. we are going to have to evacuate this area, right here, get everybody out of the area. >> i did not get close enough to see a lot of the damage. but the damage is very extensive. >> hours ago, we heard from governor rick peri. he said our thoughts and prayers are with the people of west and the first responders on the scene. we are joined by casey segill over the phone, about 15 miles from the scene. i know you have also been in touch with the mayor. we expect to hear from more from him this morning. is that correct? >> reporter: the mayor said there were seven firefighters on the scene, fighting a separate fire and trying to get that under control when that then

erupted into this gigantic explosion. again, reports of a fireball shooting some 100 feet into the air. in fact, really some fascinating information. there was a seismograph, 20 miles or so from the scene and it registered as a 2.1 magnitude seismic event, according to the u.s. geological survey, about 20 miles away. that gives you an idea of how large the percussion was. >> wow. thank you so much. really excellent reporting. we will be back right after the break. please, stay with us.

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