On April 17, when 30 tons of fertilizer detonated in West, Texas, a shock wave travelling faster than the speed of sound crushed homes. Windows shattered seven miles away. The United States Geological Survey recorded a 2.1 magnitude tremor from the blast.

Fifteen people died, 12 of them firefighters and emergency responders, and 200 were injured.

The same chemical that blew up West — ammonium nitrate — is manufactured in Donora, Pa., 20 miles south of Pittsburgh.

Dyno Nobel is a manufacturer of explosives in Donora, and it stockpiles as much as 23 million pounds of ammonia at a time, according to the most recent report

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