By Donald W. Meyers and Melinda Rogers
The Salt Lake Tribune
Copyright 2008 The Salt Lake Tribune
 AP Photo/George Frey Emergency vehicles sit at the entrance of Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Co. in Utah, where an explosion occurred Sunday night. Several people were taken to local hospitals. |
PROVO, Utah — A day after a massive explosion ripped through Pacific States Cast Iron Pipe Co.'s plant here, one worker remains hospitalized but officials are relieved the blast wasn’t more tragic.
John Balian, Pacific State’s general manager, issued a written statement saying the plant will remain closed while the accident is under investigation.
Meanwhile, the mood at the facility is one of concern for the injured workers but gratitude that the explosion wasn’t worse.
“I think we’re all feeling grateful that the employees are all right,” Sara Courtney, Balian’s assistant, said Monday afternoon.
The plant was rocked by an explosion late Sunday night on the casting floor. Balian told reporters early Monday morning that a water pipe had frozen and caused water to leak on to calcium carbide, which is used at the plant to take sulfur out of iron. When it gets wet, calcium carbide generates explosive acetylene gas. A spark or open flame could then cause the gas to explode.
Utah County Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Spencer Cannon said the blast was heard five miles away at the Utah County jail in Spanish Fork.
Eleven workers were taken to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center. Nine were treated and released, Cannon said. Two of the men, Tim Beardall and Gustavo Cervantes, were transported to University Hospital. Cannon said he could not release the names of the nine who were treated and released because he has not yet verified the information.
A University Hospital spokesman said Cervantes was discharged Monday after being treated for minor injuries. Beardall remained in the in critical condition at the hospital’s burn unit.
Beardall’s mother-in-law, Darlene Nelson, said when she heard a loud boom two miles away from the plant at her home in Provo, her thoughts turned to one thing: the safety of her son-in-law.
“That’s the first thing I thought . . . Tim’s been hurt,” said Nelson, speaking in a University Hospital chapel Monday.
Nelson immediately called her daughter, LaDonna, to see if she had heard from Beardall.
LaDonna Beardall, who lives in Spanish Fork, didn’t hear the explosion but immediately called her husband at work. He didn’t answer, which wasn’t unusual.
Beardall called the Sheriff’s dispatch to inquire about her husband and received confirmation he had been working in a crane at the time of the accident.
“I just fell to my knees. I was terrified,” said LaDonna Beardall. She arrived at the plant to find it barricaded. She headed back to her truck and ran into one of her husband’s co-workers who told her her husband was hurt, but his injuries weren’t fatal.
LaDonna Beardall held vigil at University Hospital on Monday, pleading to the public to pray for her husband, whom family described as a strong, outgoing hunter who loved spending time with his children Dakota, 14; Takoma, 9; and Kytie, 7.
The incident is traumatic for the couple’s children, LaDonna Beardall said. Dakota briefly visited his father but couldn’t stand seeing Tim sedated and hurt, she said.
Tim Beardall, who was wearing protective gear at the time of the accident, suffered severe burns on his face and hands, she said. Doctors told the family they are still determining the extensiveness of the man’s injuries and how to best treat them.
Balian, in his statement, said the company will fully cooperate with investigators.
Russ Rizzo contributed to this story.