Up to 15 people have been killed and hundreds have been injured after an explosion at a fertiliser plant near Waco, Texas.
Authorities said the death toll is expected to rise as search teams combed through the rubble of the demolished plant and surrounding homes.
The Assistant Fire Chief in Texas, Don Yeager, said a number of firefighters who responded to the initial blast are unaccounted for.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Yeager said: "Right now the conditions are such that there are still risks involved."
He said: "Monitoring of the hazardous materials situation presents risks."
"It's still a very intense and concerning incident to work through for those involved," he said.
The blast, was apparently preceded by a fire at the plant.
It happened at about 8pm local time last night (2am Irish time) in West, Texas.
West is a town of around 2,700 people about 130km south of Dallas and 32km north of Waco.
"It's a lot of devastation. I've never seen anything like this," said McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara. "It looks like a war zone with all the debris."
Texas Public Safety Department spokesman DL Wilson said a nearby nursing home had collapsed from the explosion and that people were believed trapped inside.
Sheriff McNamara said the nursing home and much of the centre of town had been evacuated, and that residences near the explosion had been levelled.
There was no immediate official word on what sparked the explosion as emergency personnel assisted victims and doused the flames.
US Representative Bill Flores, whose district includes West, said he doubted any foul play was involved.
A Texas public safety dispatcher in Waco said that an initial explosion was followed by two smaller blasts, all of which erupted after a fire at the plant.
He said there was concern that a "second silo" at the plant could explode and that authorities were scrambling to evacuate the area around the facility.
Mayor Tommy Muska said in an interview on CNN that 60 to 80 homes around the plant were flattened.
The air in town remained thick with smoke more than two hours after the explosion, and the area around the blast site was littered with shards of wood, bricks and glass.
Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco reported treating 66 patients, including children, for injuries including lacerations, burns and broken bones.
Nine people suffering burns had been transferred to the Parkland Hospital in Dallas.
A White House official said the Obama administration was aware of the situation.
It said it was monitoring local and state response through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore said the Irish Consulate in Chicago is in touch with authorities in Texas and is available to help any Irish people in the area.
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