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A major explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, on April 17, 2013 killed 15, people including a dozen first responders. More than 200 people were injured and a small Central Texas farming community was left devastated. Though West is 200 miles away from Houston, the Chronicle immediately marshaled forces from all corners of the newsroom on this major story. Our goal quickly was to dig deep and uncover why the explosion happened and what could have been done to prevent it. We pulled in our investigative team, our environmental reporter, our science reporter, our Austin bureau, a columnist and several others on this story.