Under a giant American flag, a funeral procession was made up mostly of fire trucks and passed.It's the first funeral of many to come in this Texas town and is for volunteer fireman Kenneth Harris.He died trying to stop the blaze that preceded the explosion at the West fertilizer plant.The explosion on April 18 was so powerful that it registered it as a 2.1-magnitude earthquake.It collapsed an apartment complex and destroyed homes in a five-block radius.Although most residents survived with no injuries, almost everyone in this close-knit community knew someone who died, was injured or lost a home.Dorothy Zahirniak barely survived but lost her home.“When I heard the blast, I thought 'My God, what was that?' and then the ceiling fell down on me,” Zahiriniak said.Even outside the main blast zone, many houses suffered structural damage.Homeowners have hired contractors to help remove furniture and other items that can be salvaged.Most residents who were displaced are with relatives in the area, but the local Veterans of Foreign Wars offered shelter.“We set up a shelter and we are accepting donations of clothing, food, household items and monetary funds to help rebuild the city.
