CSB to investigate Utah refinery blast, fire

A four-member team will travel to Woods Cross, Utah, to investigate a Jan. 12 explosion and fire that injured four people, the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said Jan. 13.

Jan. 14, 2009

Nick Snow
Washington Editor

WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 14 -- A four-member team will travel to Woods Cross, Utah, to investigate a Jan. 12 explosion and fire that injured four people, the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said Jan. 13.

The fire at the Silver Eagle Refiningy Inc. refinery injured two employees and two contract workers who were standing about 10 ft from a tank filled with flammable hydrocarbons when it exploded, CSB said. All were hospitalized for treatment of second and third-degree burns.

Fire crews evacuated other employees and residents within a half-mile radius soon after the blast, which occurred around 5:30 p.m. MST. Evacuees waited at a high school before they were permitted to leave 4 hr later. The fire was extinguished by 3:45 a.m. on Jan. 13.

An official for Silver Eagle Refining, which bought the 10,250 b/d plant from ConocoPhillips in 2003, said the company would begin working immediately with federal and local investigators to determine the explosion and fire's cause.

CSB said that its crew, which was scheduled to arrive the afternoon of Jan. 14, would be lead by investigator supervisor Donald Holmstrom.

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].