Propane Explosion Rocks Tekoa School

A propane tank being installed near school buildings exploded in flames Friday, injuring the man who had been working on the tank and burning an outside wall of a building, authorities said.

Students, staff and faculty who were inside the town’s combination junior-senior high school at the time were evacuated. Students had returned for fall classes Monday.

The injured worker was identified as Christopher Spath, a Moscow, Idaho-based district manager for Ferrellgas. Spath was in satisfactory condition late Friday at Spokane’s Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Spath had delivered a 1,000-gallon propane tank that was to replace an older one behind the school’s administration building.

The new tank tipped on its supports as gas was being transferred to it from the older tank, causing a hose to come loose and leak propane, authorities said.

Exhaust from the truck Spath used to deliver the tank apparently ignited the propane, authorities said.

Flames burned Spath, the truck and an outside wall of the administration building. The building’s interior was not damaged.

“I was sitting at my computer and it (the explosion) just rocked that building like you wouldn’t believe,” said Patty Leonard, who was working inside the administration building.

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