Plant shut down after explosion

Team coverageFederal investigators are looking into what caused a massive explosion at the Pacific States Cast Iron plant just south of Provo. That investigation into Sunday night's blast could take weeks.

Meanwhile workers are wondering when they'll head back to the plant.

Several workers were hurt, and the building is seriously damaged. The company, Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Co., is shut down today and likely will be for some time.

The blast last night seems to have happened when water mixed with chemicals inside, producing acetylene gas. The gas was ignited, sending a shock wave through the building and the entire community.

"In talking to the maintenance folks, it looks like we had a water line that froze and leaked water in an area that had carbide. We're still doing the investigation, but it looks like we had an explosion that happened in that area," said John Balian, the company's general manager.

Just before 10 p.m. Sunday, there was an explosion inside the plant. Several employees suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene; 11 employees were taken to the hospital.

Two men are still at the University of Utah burn unit. One of the victims, Tim Beardall, is in critical but stable condition. The other, Gustavo Cervantes, was in good condition and expected to be released.

Today the extent of the damage, especially to the roof of the building, is clearly visible.

For investigators who went inside, it was much worse. Sgt. Spencer Cannon, with the Utah County Sheriff's Office, said, "From the outside it is hard to tell, once you get inside it looks like a war zone, extensive damage. They don't even have a guess on an estimate. It is going to be probably well into the seven figures in damage. There's extensive damage throughout the facility."

Employees of the company have been told it will be a while before they can return to work. Kelly Beardall said, "No work today. I tried to ask a few people, but they didn't know at this time when we'll go back to work, a week maybe, or shorter. I don't know, or maybe longer. It's hard to say."

The Utah County Sheriff's Office has finished its part of the investigation. It says it doesn't appear anything criminal contributed to the explosion. The Utah County Fire Marshal's Office is continuing with its investigation. First and foremost, investigators want to determine an absolute cause of the blast. They are also looking for code violations and looking to see if improvements need to be made to prevent this from happening again.

The blast is now being investigated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal agency charged with overseeing workplace safety.

The company says it has hired an outside firm to investigate what happened as well, and experts will have to determine what it will take to get the plant operational again. "There's a lot of heavy structural damage in there. I can't imagine they'll be able to continue operating with the structure with just some clean up," Cannon said. "There's going to have to be some demolition, sort of speak, taking some things apart and rebuilding some of the things before they will be able to be up and running."

The company issued a written statement, saying it will do everything necessary to take care of the injured employees and their families.

In the meantime, the questions about how something so serious could happen here continue.

The explosion on a quiet Sunday evening was the last thing anyone expected. Dorothy Hassler said, "Some of our pictures had fallen off the wall and hit the ground."

Another resident, Janet Russon, said, "Powerful, it was a powerful explosion, and [I'm] a little concerned that that had even happened, that that could happen."

The explosion was loud enough to be heard at the sheriff's office in Provo, more than three miles from the plant. Officials say they received reports of people hearing the noise from northern Provo to the middle of Springville.

Some of the people who felt the explosion had family working at the plant overnight. "I felt it. I thought it was an earthquake," one Utah County resident told us. "It did shake the house. It shook the couch I was sitting on."

Laura Draper said, "I was just laying in bed watching TV and heard a great big boom. The next thing I know, my phone's ringing."

Yvette Kimber said her husband was working at the plant last night. When she heard about where the explosion happened, she immediately called her husband. "Got ahold of him and he said that he couldn't talk, that he was helping find people to make sure people were accounted for," she said.

People as for away as Goshen, which is 20 miles from the site of the explosion, also reported feeling it or hearing it.

Pacific States produces pipe in 6-inch to 30-inch diameters, according to its Web site.

An Eyewitness News review of the Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Company's work safety records finds OSHA has cited the company with numerous safety violations over the past eight years.

OSHA Violations at Pacific States
2000: hydraulic fluid ignited
2005: respiratory problems
2007: flammable and combustible liquids and control of hazardous energy

In October 2000, a worker was hospitalized when hydraulic fluid ignited. In 2005, the company was cited for what documents call "respiratory problems." Last January OSHA found Pacific States to be in violation for "flammable and combustible liquids and control of hazardous energy."

Of the six accidents OSHA has investigated at the plant from October 2000 to July of last year, the company was cited seven times for serious safety violations. The company also had to pay more than $13,000 in fines.

In addition to safety violations, the company has also had problems with the Environmental Protection Agency. In 2006, former vice president and general manager Charles Matlock pleaded guilty to environmental crimes in connection with Pacific States, involving emission test results.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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