The investigation, ATF said, was one of the longest and most extensive in the agency’s history.
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A star sign with the words, West Is The Best, hangs on a fence that surrounds the perimeter of the property where a fertilizer plant once stood, Thursday, April 17, 2014, in West, Texas.
A dozen of the people killed in the explosion were emergency responders.
The ATF said the investigation, which so far has cost $2 million, is ongoing and offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the fire.
Defendants include CF Industries; El Dorado Chemical Co.; Adair Grain Co., owner of West Fertilizer Co.; Thermaclime Inc.; and International Chemical Co.
Also during the May 2013 press conference, Robert Champion, with the Dallas Field Office of the ATF, said there were three things that could not be eliminated as causes of the fire.
Who is the suspect is the question investigators now have to answer, says renowned arson expert Miles Brissette of Gill & Brissette.
Pending the criminal investigation, Elder said the agency is withholding a full report on the explosion, for fear it will jeopardize the integrity of the case. Several businesses and schools were severely damaged by the explosion.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board released a report concluding that poor storage of ammonium nitrate set the stage for the deadly explosion inside the warehouse in West, Texas.
According to Mr Elder, the explosion left a crater that was 93 feet wide and 12 feet deep. Maybe an electrical fire caused the explosion, they thought, something accidental, unintentional, unforeseeable.
CF Industries Holdings Inc., the largest US producer of nitrogen fertilizer, was sued by the city of West for the deadly explosion in a plant that the company supplied with ammonium nitrate. They had suspicions as to what caused the fire based on bits and pieces of information over the years. About 22 minutes later, an explosion occurred, sending a fireball almost 100 feet (30 m) into the air.
The fire killed 15 people on April 17, 2013, majority emergency personnel. “I have a hard time believing it”, he said of the announcement that the fire at the fertilizer plant was intentional.
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The first two trial settings – the first in October, the second in January – were canceled after the parties reached undisclosed settlements and partial settlements.
