Foundry blast cause unclear
TACOMA – One critically injured man was fighting for his life Sunday while the cause of a fiery propane explosion at Atlas Castings & Technology on Saturday remained under investigation.
Charles McDonald, 64, remained in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, hospital officials said.
McDonald, a driver for IXL Transportation Services, was delivering propane to the foundry when his 8,000-gallon truck exploded, shooting debris 150 feet in the air, emergency and company officials reported. Fire spread to two nearby storage tanks, 28,000 and 31,000 gallons in size, which were damaged in the explosion.
McDonald’s family declined media interviews through the hospital.
It remained unclear whether the fire started inside the facility or near the tanker.
“What’s clear is that there was a leak and it found an ignition source,” Assistant Fire Chief Dan Crotty said Sunday.
Firefighters got the smoldering remnants of the blaze knocked down Sunday morning, Crotty said, allowing inspectors to launch an investigation into the sequence of events leading up to the explosion that shook buildings and nerves for miles. Three others who were injured were treated and released Saturday.
“Right now, most of the product has vented off from the tanks; the gas company (is) in (the) process of capping off a natural gas line; the power company is here, trying to isolate the plant from the grid; then we’ll be able to start our investigation,” Crotty said Sunday afternoon.
Fire investigators will start at the outer perimeter and methodically work their way in, piecing together what happened, he said. The inspection will likely take several days.
Meanwhile, inspectors with the Washington state Department of Labor and Industries were also conducting a separate investigation, Crotty said.
“This was a terrible accident,” said Mike Sullivan, safety director for IXL. “It’s a terrible tragedy for our company and it will hurt our operations considerably.” The company has about 16 delivery tankers, he said.
A sealed-off perimeter remained around the Atlas site Sunday as crews evaluated how to remove the propane remaining in two large storage tanks, which still posed a potential hazard even though the contents were no longer under pressure.
The state Route 16 viaduct reopened to traffic early Sunday after being closed for 11 hours, Washington State Department of Transportation officials said.
According to fire radio traffic, emergency and company officials were reviewing security video of the incident. It was not publicly released. Atlas officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.