out there was a tremendous response from law enforcement agency from the sheriff's department and waco pd and waco fire and mcclinnon emergency management and other numerous agencies responded to assist with west. many ambulance companies and the medical personnel also assisted here as well, and they are still here, they are still trying to help and get the wounded out. most of the folks that are wounded are being taken to the abbott area to a local high school. and that is where they are being tree jogged. triaged. they are setting that up for a resource center for people to be evacuated to. they are evacuating the area based on the on going danger of the fires that were still there. some are still going on. they got most of them under control, but they are trying to move people out and get them evacuated out of the area still. i just talked to my commander on the ground there in the scene. he is telling me he has seen extreme devastation in homes, in some of the businesses. they are still getting injured folks out and they are evacuating people from their homes. at this point, we don't

out there were a tremendous response from law enforcent in agencies from the sheriff's department, waco pd, waco fire, emergency management and other numerous agencies responded to west to assist with west. many ambulance companies, medical personnel also assisted here as well and they are still here trying to help and get the wounded out. most of the folks that are wounded are being taken to the abbott area to a local high school and that is where they are being triaged. they are setting that up as a resource center for people to be y vacked. we are evacuating based on the on going dangers of the tire still there. they have most of them under control, but they are trying to move people out and get them evacuated out of the area still. i just talked to my commander on the ground there on h in -- in the scene. he is saying he is seeing extreme devastation in homes, in some of the businesses. they were still getting injured folks out and evacuating people from their homes. at this point, we don't know a number that have been killed. i will confirm there have been fatalities. i think we will

injured out, there were a tremendous response from law enforcement agencies, the sheriff's department, waco pd, waco fire, the county emergency management, and other numerous agencies responded to west to assist. many ambulance companies, medical personnel also assisted here, as well. and they are still here, trying to help and get the wounded out. most of the wounded are being taken to a local hospital, where they're being triaged. they're also setting that up as a resource center for people to be evaced, because we are evacuating homes in the area based on the ongoing danger of the fires that were still there. some are still going on. they got most of them under control. but they are trying to move people out and get them evacuated out of that area still. at this point, we don't know the number that have been killed. i will confirm there have been fatalities. i think we will see those fay it wills increase as we get towards the morning. numerous injuries have been moved from the scene to a hospital. we've taken them into waco, to hillcrest, and providence hospital where they're being treated

i'm the spokesperson for waco pd. my name is sergeant william patrick swanton. i'm the spokesperson for the police department in waco. we got called out here last night about 9:30 and we've been here ever since. i don't work for west pd. i don't work for mclennan county. those guys are tied up at this point so we're helping every bit that we can. it's not just us. there are numerous agencies, law enforceme enforcement, fire, first aid, responders, red cross, federal agencies, lots of folks are here and west has seen a tremendous outpouring of support in a tremendous community involvement. they have got together with each other, are leaning on each other and are very supportive. what i will try to give you at this point is a little bit more than we had before. i ask you again to bear with us as this is a bit of a tedious process down there. they are being very thorough. they are taking their time in their searches and i assure you they are not going to move fast because you all want more information. they are going to move at the speed they need to. we will try an

we have an official with waco pd telling nbc news that "i can tell you there are hundreds of individuals that have been injured. some are potentially going to be casualties, but no solid number of fatalities or injured." but the reports that we are hearing, again, the number we're hearing over and over again is hundreds. we don't know if that means one, two. we don't know the full extent of this. we are hearing reports that a number of patients are being treated at area hospitals for burns, that they are treating burn victims at this time. and then a number of patients, at least 38 at one facility alone, are considered seriously injured. we also know there's been extensive damage to buildings surrounding the explosion, that the force of that explosion damaged 75 to 100 buildings in the surrounding area. we've shown some video this evening of a nursing home that was extremely damaged. they had to evacuate that facility altogether. and so rescuers are going door to door to try to reach the wounded. those who may have been injured by the secondary damage, if you will, the force of that expl

waco police department. i have been asked to assist tonight. obviously west pd, the judge from this area, they are all very busy in the town town area working what they need to be doing. my job think point is to try to keep you here and give you as much information as i can and fill you in as best as i can. i know from doing a a couple of these asking you not to answer or not ask questions is not going to work. there are some things i will tell you i do not know. i won't rehash old stuff unless everybody needs that or there are folks here that need it. you are all aware of why we are here i am assuming. here is what i have so far. we have verified the times are different from what we first thought. fire call came in at 7:29 local time. the west fire department responded to that call. it was in the process of working an akctive fire at the fertilizr plant. at 7:53 p.m. we got the first call of an explosion at the plant. those of you that have seen the video understand the devastating effects of that explosion. it was a significant explosion. i have talked to the