For some people, volunteering your time can mean volunteering your profession. Dianne Sawyer, a medical consultant at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center and a retired OBGYN, volunteers at Cameron Park Zoo once a week.
However, she’s not feeding or cleaning up after animals. Sawyer is a part of a special training initiative for a 14-year-old female orangutan called May.
Musicians are working to help a Texas town decimated in a deadly fertilizer plant explosion.
Officials with the Texas Thunder Festival on Monday announced next month’s performances will benefit emergency responders and schools in West, where 14 people were killed in a blast on April 17.
A shooting at a smoke shop left one teen dead and another injured Monday morning.
Waco police officers responding to reports of a shooting at Eddies Smoke Shop on Waco Drive found two individuals — Dhaodrique Eastland, 17, and another 19-year-old victim both from Waco — with gunshot wounds to the upper torso and forearm, respectively.
Both were rushed to the hospital, where Eastland was pronounced dead.
Twelve flag-draped caskets stood next to twelve smiling portraits of the first responders who died in last week’s explosion in West.
In front of each stood a uniformed figure. Some old and some young, some with the decorations of rank and office and some unadorned. Periodically a column of similar figures would march in front and raise a hand slowly in a salute. With a quick step to the side, the first responders change places and continue their vigil — a vigil they held from early Thursday morning until the service concluded Thursday evening.
The White House has announced several changes to today’s memorial service that will honor the 10 firefighters killed April 17 in the West fertilizer explosion.
Doors will now open at 11 a.m. and close at 1:45 p.m. or whenever the Ferrell Center reaches capacity, which is 10,284 people. In a statement released Wednesday night, the university said it expects more than 4,000 uniformed first responders to attend and are planning for a capacity crowd.
Several West residents are continuing the search for missing loved ones after last week’s deadly explosion, and for some people those loved ones included four-legged friends.
Following the explosion on April 17 almost 90 animals, mainly dogs and cats, were brought to the Humane Society of Central Texas, according to executive director Don Bland. Chickens, lizards and rabbits were also among those rescued. At the time of publication half of the lost animals have been reclaimed.
Less than a week after the disastrous fertilizer plant explosion, West students returned to school Monday to finish out the year.
Pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade students returned to West Elementary School, a little over a mile away from the West Fertilizer Co. plant that caught fire and exploded Wednesday night.
Baylor will host a memorial service Thursday at the Ferrell Center for the 11 first responders killed in the West explosion.
Doors open at 1 p.m. and the service begins at 2 p.m.. A procession beginning at 11 a.m. will immediately precede the service.
The center of the massive explosion at West Fertilizer Co., has been located.
According to Assistant Texas Fire Marshal Kelly Kistner at a press conference Sunday morning, the epicenter of the blast has been found and investigators will be working inward from areas with the least damage to areas with the most damage.
West’s mayor pro tem, Steve Vanek announced today that stage one of “several upcoming reentry stages” will begin this afternoon at 3 p.m.
According to Vanek, state fire marshalls and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms have been investigating the area devastated by Wednesday night’s fertilizer plant explosion and it has been determined that residents living between Oak Street and Walnut Street in West can assemble at the corner of Tokyo Road and Reagan Street to return to their home on a limited basis this afternoon. Vanek also assured citizens and media that the rumors of lingering health hazards and possible secondary explosions were unfounded.
Since the fertilizer plant explosion Wednesday in West, students have responded swiftly with prayers, donations and relief for victims.
The number of casualties in connection with the Wednesday night explosion in West has been updated to include two additional people, bringing the number of total confirmed casualties to 14.
Since the fertilizer plant explosion Wednesday in West, students have responded swiftly with prayers, donations and relief for victims.
The bodies of 12 people were recovered Thursday night, just two days after a local fertilizer plant exploded in West, according to a spokesman from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
The bodies of 12 people have been recovered after an enormous Texas fertilizer plant explosion that demolished surrounding neighborhoods for blocks and left about 200 other people injured, authorities said Friday.
Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Jason Reyes said it was “with a heavy heart” that he confirmed 12 bodies had been pulled from the area of the plant explosion in West, about 20 miles north of Waco.
The investigation is still ongoing into the Wednesday night explosion that destroyed the West Fertilizer Plant and rocked the small Texas community. Buildings bore traces of the blast, black plastic trash bags covering the places where panes of glass shattered, some taped to hold them in place. It is a city showing signs of life after Wednesday’s disaster, which resulted in the call for a voluntary evacuation of the small town, population 2,849.
The Baylor and Waco communities joined efforts to help victims affected by the fertilizer plant explosion, which occurred Wednesday in West, 17 miles north of Waco.
Thursday evening, two storage trucks full of food, clothes and other personal hygiene products lined the front of the Ferrell Center as more than 100 students and others from the Waco community poured in an attempt to assist with West relief efforts.
On April 19, 1993, the world watched as the Branch Davidian complex burned to the ground.
The Institute for Studies of Religion held a day-long conference Thursday to commemorate the disaster.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Waco siege, a 51-day standoff at Mount Carmel Center near Waco, involving government agents and the Branch Davidians, a religious group led by David Koresh (born Vernon Howell).
Many places in the Waco community are taking donations and offering shelter to people affected by the West explosion. In particular, some Waco churches have been organization centers for the road to recovery.
The Texas Department of Public Safety and Attorney General Greg Abbott conducted a flyover and a ground examination of the damage caused by the explosion in West.
In a press conference held at 6 p.m., Abbott said, “the area along the site is total devastation.”
In a press conference Thursday, officials gave an update on the explosion in West.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has declared this a disaster, according to Abbott.
In a press conference Thursday, officials gave an update on the explosion in West.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the families affected by the blast have support from officials.
Police in Texas say between five and 15 people were killed in a fertilizer plant explosion that also injured more than 160 others.
Waco police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said early Thursday morning that the death toll is only an estimate as search and rescue operations remain under way in downtown West.
Fatalities as a result of the explosion in West are confirmed, but a number is not yet known.
At a press conference held just after midnight, D. L. Wilson, Public Information Officer for the Texas State Troopers, confirmed that there had been fatalities but would not confirm a number. When asked on a previously reported death count of 60 to 70, Wilson declined to comment. Wilson did confirm a large number of injuries.
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Saddened by news of explosion in West, Texas. Praying for our neighbors.
Fatalities as a result of the explosion in West are confirmed, but a number is not yet known.
At a press conference held just after midnight, D. L. Wilson, Public Information Officer for the Texas State Troopers, confirmed that there had been fatalities but would not confirm a number. When asked on a previously reported death count of 60 to 70, Wilson declined to comment. Wilson did confirm a large number of injuries.
Following the news of the explosion in West, almost one hundred students and faculty from the Baylor community came together at a student organized candlelight vigil to pray outside of Waco Hall.
The vigil was started by Baylor Sophomore Class President Ben Prado, from Richardson, who tweeted to fellow classmates to meet him in front of Waco Hall at midnight. Prado purchased several candles and lighters and waited for students to join him.
There are confirmed casualties from the explosion in West, but not yet a confirmed number. According to some reports, the number could be as high as 70. Hundreds are injured.
The explosion occurred at West Fertilizer plant in West Wednesday night. Firefighters were responding to a fire at the plant when an explosion went off that rocked the small town. A four-block area around the explosion site is destroyed.
Here is a list of resources of victims of the West, Texas explosion as well as opportunities for the community to respond to provide help and support to those affected by this tragedy.
