WEST, Texas (AP) - On the first Sunday after a fertilizer plant explosion leveled part of a tiny Texas town, pastor John Crowder stood atop a long flatbed overlooking a hayfield and spoke to his congregation.
Crowder's First Baptist Church in West remains blocked off as investigators work on the scene of Wednesday's blast that killed at least 14 people and injured 200. So about 100 people sat in white folding chairs Sunday morning, while others carried their own.
Authorities have not yet identified what caused the blast, which was so powerful it registered as a small earthquake. Assistant state fire marshal Kelly Kistner said the blast left "a large crater."
The explosion destroyed about 50 homes and severely damaged a nursing home and other buildings nearby. Kistner said all fires have been extinguished at the explosion scene and the remaining fertilizer tanks at the plant are not a danger.
Some of the people who attended Sunday's outdoor service wore T-shirts calling on others to "pray for West."
The destruction was evident in a short visit to the area organized for reporters.
An apartment building just across the railroad tracks from the plant appeared to bear the brunt of the explosion, according to a pool report. The building's roof was collapsed, its windows were blown out and chunks of concrete from the plant littered the space between the tracks and the apartments.
"Several blocks we had projectiles or shrapnel that has been found of different sizes," Kistner said. "Smaller pieces have been found blocks away."
The wave radiating from the blast also hit the nursing home across the street from the apartments. There too, windows were blown out, ceiling tiles were visible throughout the rooms and the red brick exterior was cracked.
Kristner said officials have found the seat, or center, of the explosion, "which is important, because as we conduct our investigation we'll be working from an outer perimeter inward."
from the least damaged to the greatest damage. So knowing the seat of that explosion is important."
Robert Champion, the special agent in charge for ATF's Dallas office, said experts plan to get into the crater in the next couple of days and start digging it out "to see what transpired to cause this devastation."
"It's a slow process, but we're getting there," Champion said.