charles hadlock remains with us on the ground. charles, you were there listening to sergeant william swanson, as he gave us the latest. just six or seven minutes ago. the questions that were asked of him and if we were to be there, as well, would be what is next? what are they concerned about? for those that are just joining us, the question might be, this ammonia. this anhydrous ammonia, that hugs the ground and can be pushed on. watching the weather patterns, as you were describing earlier. the question is, what will be next? and how will they be dealing with that danger? >> the good news, richard, is that the plant is on the north side of town. and the winds are from the south. any of the smoke or ammonia fumes that may linger in that area will be blown off to the north. and the winds are very strong, as been reported all night long. it's about 20 miles per hour, gusting to 35. so, that will help break up the cloud out of there. it's hard to tell at night what's going on. but ammonia is a lighter than air. but colorless gas. it'

charles hadlock, who has been there reporting for us. emergency resources, the report is they got enough of that at the moment. >> they certainly do. in fact, before midnight, they were saying we don't need anymore first responders here. thank you for the help. but we have enough help. i think they were really concerned about how many casualties they were and how widespread the damage was. once they got an assessment of that and went block-by-block, searching for victims. they decided, okay, we don't need anymore help right now. i just left the downtown area. got a glimpse up to the north, a few blocks north of downtown. and there was a very concentrated area of first responders in one particular area. not quite certain yet -- haven't mapped that out to figure out what that is they're interested in. but that's where the concentration of first responders seems to be right now. >> you were just at one of the business locations. you said the windows were blown out. give us more detail about what you're seeing on the ground. we got about 40 s

now, i want to bring nbc's charles hadlock back in. he is on the ground there. charles, have you seen first responders still coming into town or are they heeding the advice they don't need anyone else at this time? >> i think they're heeding the response. i don't see as many first responders on the streets right now. earlier this evening, though, just about every car in the vicinity of west, texas was a first responders from as far as away as dallas, fort worth. the state trooper said hundreds of miles away people were coming in. i believe that. that's the way things half in texas. when a tragedy like this happens in a small town, small towns respond as well as large ones and that's what's happened in this case. right now the triage unit has very few patients in it. the state trooper who gave the briefing a while ago said all of the injured have been evacuated from town. right now they're concentrated on searching the debris in the blast area looking for more victims or survivors. >> as you mentioned, we're hearing they're going door to door looking for folks who

i'd like to bring in charles hadlock now. nbc's charles hadlock is in west texas. charles, can you tell us about what you're seeing now in terms of that fire? you mentioned earlier that you could still see that it was burning. it's 1:00 a.m. eastern time. it happened around 8:00 p.m. eastern time. we're talking about hours and hours now. can you confirm that you are still seeing fire burning? >> yeah, there's still a slight glow on the north part of town. can't really tell what it is. whether it's remnants of the plant or perhaps some other building that may be smoldering here. but as the state trooper mentioned, what they're concerned about now are lives. who may still be alive in that rubble. and that's what they're concentrating on right now. they are going house to house, block by block. what's left of it. to try to find any survivors. the state trooper did mention that all of the injured had been evacuated out of west. that's a good sign. but they're still worried about what they may find inside that debris zone very near the plant. and if you heard that troop

nbc's charles hadlock live in west, texas.ould note there was a fire burning at the plant before the explosion. firefighters were responding to that. and overnight, we got reports that firefighters were still missing. we will continue to follow this developing story. stay with msnbc for the latest on that. this is "first look." "way too early" starts right now. >>> it should collapse. [ explosion ] >> just an unbelievable explosion. hundreds of people are hurt. and there are fatalities. we just don't know how many after an explosion at a fertilizer plant north of waco, texas. we are on the scene, as new details emerge. good morning, everyone. this is "way too early" on a busy news day on this thursday, april 18th. they have a face. but they still need a name. we'll have the latest on the investigation into the

for more on the story, let's go to charles hadlock, in west, texas. you've been there for several hours now. can you update us on the information? >> we're expecting a briefing in the next few minutes or so. hopefully we'll get numbers about the casualties in this. that's what we don't know right now. we know there's more than 100 people injured, taken to area hospitals, as far away as dallas/ft. worth and waco and temple to the south. we don't know how many fatalities. the authorities say there are fatalities. there could be one or two every minute. but that is -- that was several hours ago. we're waiting to see exact by what the numbers might be and what they're thinking. it's been a long night. they've been going block-by-block, house-by-house, or what's left of the houses, trying to find survivors or remains to try to count up how many may with missing and how many may have survived in this disaster in the center of texas. >> quick question for you. most of this has happened in the dark. is there a sense of the scale and scope of the devastation?

that is where we find nbc's charles hadlock. charles, where does the search stand right now?er: they're continuing to comb the neighborhoods, what's left of them, to try to find any survivors who may have made it through the day and through the night. they are concerned that they are running out of time, however. we're expecting another briefing here shortly to give us an update on the numbers. as you mentioned, at many as 15 people may have died in this tragic explosion, and between three and four of them may have been firefighters who were the first responders when the plant blew up last night. they're still an active investigation going on here. it's going to be led by the atf. alcohol, tobacco and firearms agencies that will go in and try to determine what started the fire and what triggered the massive explosion that was felt for 70 miles around this area of central texas. >> wow. and, charles, the fertilizer industry here is rather large, especially in the midwest and south. a $10 billion industry. so we do know something about the precedent for this. this is believed t

. >> we're joined now by nbc's charles hadlock. les, reportedly about half of this town, just under 3,000 people, had to be evacuated after the blast. what's the latest on those people? >> reporter: well, they are still evacuated in the northern part of this town because they are still going block-by-block, house-by-house, lot-by-lot to see if there are anymore survivors. so far 160 people have been taken to area hospitals. many of them still remain in the hospital. five of them underwent surgery overnight. the death toll is somewhere between 5 and 15. they haven't narrowed that down yet. that was the number we were given before 6:00 a.m. today. they haven't updated that number. perhaps that's good news if the death toll can remain low. they're going to have another briefing here in just a new minutes so we might get an update on those numbers. of those numbers, 5 to 15, 3 to 4 of them are believed to be firefighters who are missing and presumed dead. they were the first responders to fight the fire last night just before the explos

. >> nbc's charles hadlock is on the ground there and joins me now. what a night, what a scene.now i was listening to you all night as you were driving there with maris campo and describing what you seen en route. what did you experience when you first got there? >> well we were in kaufman county following up on the district attorney murders there. and i was inside a building. there was a rumble about 8:55 last night, local time. 7:55 local time, 8:55 eastern and we all felt the thunderstorms aren't supposed to be here until later today, we were expecting rain. and then when i walked outside i realized there were no thunderstorms around. so what was that. and certainly within ten or 15 minutes, we started getting the phone calls about the disaster here in west. there is a pattern of destruction on the landscape here in west, texas. where the plant once stood. emanating out from that is a ring of damage that includes dozens of homes and businesses. that have been destroyed. the nearby high school has also been damaged. it caught on fire with the debris that rained down from the s

. >> nbc's charles hadlock is live in the small town of west, texas. charles, what are people saying so far? what's the latest? >> reporter: they say it's a very tedious process, but they are still holding out hope that they will find survivors in the rubble that is left in the northern part of west, texas. the plant itself is on the northeast corner of town, and it exploded last night after fire broke out about 7:30. about 7:45 the fire chief realized the fire was getting out of control. he order his men out, and seven minutes later the whole building exploded. jill jenkins was a triage nurse. she was one of the first ones to arrive on the scene. here's what she had to say. >> when i got on the scene it was approximately two minutes after the explosion. it actually looked like 9/11, what you saw on tv with 9/11. there were people laying in their yards that had been blown out of their homes. the nursing home looked like it had just been blown kind of out. the west apartments, the structure was there but apartments were just blown out. people were coming

charles hadlock in west, texas, for us. charles, thanks. we'll have the latest on the boston bombing probe in a moment. turning now to the first major legislative defeat of the president's second term. four months after president obama called the country to action in the wake of the newtown shootings, using all of the power of the presidency to push gun safety measures, every measure he championed went down to defeat on the senate floor. when the compromise took shape, there was optimism they could get something through the senate but this bill to expand background checks for gun buyers only managed to win 54 votes. it needed 60 to move forward. >> shame on you! >> there will be order in the senate. >> the tucson shooting survivor who wrestled a third gun clip away from gerald loughner screamed when they heard the measure had failed and were escorted out of the capitol. four democrats voted no and four republicans voted for it. after the background check legislation which the white house believed had the best chance of passing was defeated.

nbc's charles hadlock is in west texas for us. charles, what's the latest there?porter: hi, craig. well, today was a day of prayer here in the town of west. just about every church pew was filled with people and also some of the first responders who have arrived theo ed here from aroun region. they attended services here as well. the baptist church, which was in the zone that was damaged by the blast, they held services here at the fairgrounds in an open field. investigators say they have pinpointed the center of the disaster, the center crater. now, that's important, because they can now determine exactly what was there and try to reconstruct not only what caused the explosion, but more importantly, what caused the fire that triggered the explosion. several blocks of homes were flattened by the explosion. an apartment complex was also ransacked along with the nursing home that was severely damaged. several blocks of town have returned to their homes. several hundred residents are returned late yesterday, but they don't have running water. the mayor says several u

charles hadlock joins us now from kaufman, 2, with the latest. charles, good morning. >> good morning, lester. as a possible sign of how desperate authorities have become for information in this case, the reward has been raised to $200,000. and for investigators looking for facts, the case looks like a broken puzzle. a texas-style farewell in mike mclelland's hometown. 70 miles from where the kaufman county prosecutor and his wife cynthia were gunned down at their home a week ago. cynthia was cremated and her ashes placed inside her husband's coffin. at the service, a colleague promised to carry on mclelland's mission. >> these were two good and moral people who served the community so well. >> reporter: one week after the killings, authorities appear no closer to solving the murders than they were to solving the shooting death of his top assistant, mark hasse, two months ago. no arrests have been made, and authorities say they have no suspects. investigators have said little about the murders, as they search for a definitive link between the two

charles hadlock has the very latest. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, erica.earch by land, sea, and air continues along the gulf coast this morning for a father who police say kidnapped his own children and planned an elaborate getaway. the coast guard today is searching the gulf of mexico for a 25-foot blue sailboat named "salty." on board are sean and jessica hacken and their 2-year-old and 4-year-old. he lost the custody battle of the boys last week, took them from their maternal grandmother. >> he tied me up. i was able to remove myself, but they've been gone with half an hour. >> reporter: police aren't sure if the boys' mother had any role in the kidnapping, but security cameras at the marina show the family boarding the boat and sailing away on wednesday. by the time police made the connection, they say the boat could have sailed 100 miles away, or more. however, police say the search by land is not over. >> wouldn't put it past them to be able to pull into one of the cove, or one of the inlets, and then board a vehicle. so we're not going to eliminate

charles hadlock has the latest. >> as you reported, the briefing ended here. >> reporter: we will have another one at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. here is what we know so far. at least 160 people have been injured in the explosion of a fertilizer plant in west texas. 20 miles north of waco and 80 miles south of dallas/ft. worth. among the fatal casualties are between 5 and 15 and among those are 3 to 5 firefighters and perhaps one law enforcement officer. houses were blocked around this fertilizer plant. i was in kauffman, county, 60 miles away and we could feel it there. the concussion rattled the windows. we thought it was the approaching storms but it turned out it was much worse than that. it was an explosion that killed several people here in town and perhaps dozens more. mika? >> willie? >> willie geist here. is there any suspension whatsoever of criminal element to this at all? i think the officer who just spoke at the press conference defected that a little bit and hadn't seen any sign of that. is there any suspicion or are they looking into that? >> the officers said they want to

charles hadlock is in west, texas, for us. did officials end the search and the rescue effort and move on to the next phase of search and recovery? >> reporter: it was late yesterday everything governor rick perry held a news conference in which he said it had turned to a search and recovery effort. texas task force one, the elite search and rescue team here in texas, has pulled out of here. they packed up their expensive gear and have headed back to texas a&m their home base. the search and rescue is over. it's now a means of search and recovery right now. 14 people are dead. that is the death toll that has stood since late yesterday. among the dead are six local volunteer firefighters, four paramedics, and a dallas firefighter who just happened to live in west and headed to the smoke and fire as he saw it. alex? >> well, that's extraordinary, which means that the explosion itself may have killed some working there but then those who went to help, the rescue workers, the ones that really lost so many in their ranks. i'm curio

. >> todd hadlock there. charles, what is key in the coming hours? >> reporter: well, they're going to continue to search in the coming hours. they're going to bring in cadaver dogs and sniff for explosive. they're treating this as a crime scene for now. they want to rule out any possibility this is a crime before they believe investigating for what they believe it to be an industrial accident. >> charles working all night covering that story outside of waco, texas. >>> federal agents arrested a mississippi man overnight suspected of sending letters contaminated with poison to president obama and senator roger wicker. this move cummings just days after the letters were intercepted in mail sorting facilities for the white house, capitol hill. nbc's tracie potts has the details. >> reporter: richard what led them to mississippi, was the setting on not just two, but three letters wents too a mississippi judge, signing those letters to become a silent partner i am kevin curtis and i approve this message. that suspect called kevin curtis has been arrested