Dallas News: Texas prohibits nearly 70 percent of its counties from having a fire code

The West Fertilizer plant blast killed 15 and injured 200, while demolishing the factory and some of the neighborhood. The plant was in a county that could have had a fire code, unlike 173 counties in Texas. Even after the April blast, the Legislature failed to change the law that allows codes only in counties with more than 250,000 people or and in adjacent counties. 

Randy Lee Loftis, Environmental Writer 

DallasNews.com

25 May 2013

Despite the lessons from the West Fertilizer Co. fire and explosions about the value of fire prevention, site security and safe storage of dangerous goods, Texas prohibits nearly 70 percent of its counties from having a fire code.

Fire codes aren’t just for fires. They also contain rules for managing explosive or toxic chemicals, including specific guidelines for ammonium-nitrate fertilizer, the substance that exploded and killed 15 people and injured 200 in West on April 17.

Fire code rules emerge from tragic history.

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