Mayor of West Reflects on the Past 10 Years After Deadly Explosion

Monday marked 10 years since a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded and killed 15 people, injured hundreds and caused hundreds of millions of dollars of damage.

A decade later, the town has rebuilt and people continue to move forward, but on the anniversary of the destructive explosion the city took a moment to pause and reflect. On Saturday they held an event at a memorial to honor the fallen heroes and also look at how far they've come.

“It's something that had happened 10 years ago, and you don't want to remember but you don't want to forget it either," said West Mayor Tommy Muska.

Born and raised in West, Muska has been mayor for 12 years, including on April 17, 2013, when his hometown would change forever.

“I remember it as vivid today as I did 10 years ago, and it's not going to ever go away," said Muska.

On that Wednesday, Muska, who owns an insurance company, said he visited the West Fertilizer Company around 4 p.m. to have someone sign papers related to another business.

"I often think about Cody Dragoo and his smile, he was just a great person," said Muska who said the document his friend signed for the water company he represented, was probably one of the last papers he ever signed. "I was talking in his office to have him sign some insurance papers, standing right next to the ammonium nitrate that only a few hours later would explode."

Muska then went home and just before 7:30 p.m. is when he saw black smoke coming from the plant.

"So I started making my way to the fertilizer plant, and I made it about a block and a half out when all of a sudden it just blew up," said Muska.

“The sound was just like that," said Muska as he snapped his fingers. "And then the air came a couple of seconds later and it came across that field you could see the concussion coming at you, it knocked me off my feet."

He noticed the fire was gone because the oxygen was depleted by the explosion. He made his way to the intermediate school because it was on fire and he was trying to put it out.

"My brown truck, my famous little brown truck started, which was a miracle," said Muska because the concussion from the blast damaged many other vehicles. He said his rearview mirror was knocked off, but that was it.

Once he saw the debris on the street, people walking around with injuries, and the overall destruction, the reality of the situation began to set in.

He started delegating to get help from people and McLennan County leaders who could help.

"I needed somebody who had some experience if I didn't, I knew that I was smart enough to get somebody that knew what they were doing to help us those first few hours," he explained.

He described what he saw as something that you would see in a movie.

"It was like a bomb went off, and that's when I realized this thing was a whole lot bigger than I thought it was," he said.

He said one of the first people he ran into was Carolyn Pustejovsky, whose son, Joey Pustejovsky, was 29 at the time of the explosion. He was a firefighter and also the West city secretary.

"And I knew that he was probably there, I didn't know for sure, but then she asked me where he was until, I didn't know which, I didn't for sure but later found out he died," said Muska.

He said he had to tell several families the devastating news.

The deceased victims were Morris Bridges, Perry Calvin, Jerry Dane Chapman, Cody Frank Dragoo, Kenneth Harris, Adolph Lander, James Matus, Judith Ann Monroe, Joseph “Joey” Pustejovsky, Cyrus Adam Reed, Mariano C. Saldivar, Kevin William Sanders, Douglas Snokhous, Robert Snokhous and William Uptmor, Jr.

All of their names are etched in stone with their life stories at a peaceful memorial that sits about 100 yards from where the blast happened.

Along with the lives lost, hundreds of people were injured, and many homes, schools, buildings, cars and businesses were either destroyed or damaged.

The town's infrastructure was also damaged.

Muska said after years of dealing with the state, FEMA and insurance to recoup monies to rebuild, they're finally there.

Internally though, the repairs to the heart and minds of those who experienced the traumatic event and lost loved ones, will take time.

“There's still the mental part, the post-traumatic stress," he said. "That's going to be a long, long time coming near that's going to take years and maybe never to get right there. But I still have to concentrate on that and so it's still part of the picture."

He said for the most part, people are ready to move forward.

“We don't ever want to forget those 15 people that died in the explosion and the chaos and devastation that happened, but you know if you keep looking backwards while you're trying to walk forward, you're going to fall down," said Muska. "And that's my theory with all of this is that we have to keep moving forward. You want to live, you know and remember the past but you want to live for the present and hope for the future and that's where we are."