Company: Workers followed procedure before blast
CLEBURNE, TX
Fred Haag, chief operating officer of Oklahoma-based C&H Power
Line Construction Services, said the crew already had a survey map
showing gas lines in the area but also made calls to verify the
line location at the site in rural Johnson County, about 50 miles
southwest of Dallas.
Michael Williams of the Texas Railroad Commission, the state
agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, said calls were
made to locate the line, a requirement before any company or person
does excavation work, but his agency is investigating what was said
during those calls.
Authorities identified the man killed in Monday's blast as James
Robert Neese, 45, of Ramona, Okla. His body was found Monday night
about 600 feet from the explosion site after authorities deemed the
charred area safe enough to do a thorough search.
"Even at night, the soles of their shoes were melting because
it was still extremely hot," said Jack Snow, Johnson County's
emergency management coordinator.
At least seven of the other 13 workers who had been close to the
site were treated at hospitals, mostly for burns to their necks and
arms as they ran away from the massive fireball, Haag said. Only
one worker remained hospitalized Tuesday, he said.
A 23-member crew that had been working in the area for several
months was drilling a hole Monday for an 80- to 120-foot utility
pole when the gas line was struck and ruptured, sending a massive
fireball into the air that burned out about two hours later after
the gas flow was shut off.
"Some of the guys heard it from a distance," Haag said
Tuesday. "There was an explosion of flames and everybody started
running."
Several of Neese's relatives also work for C&H, including his
brother who was at the site Monday but was not injured. Neese, who
has several children and stepchildren, recently welcomed a new baby
with his wife, Haag said.
"It's hard because we're a fairly small company and
close-knit," Haag said. "His crew was like a family to him, and
he watched them like a mother hen."
The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and
the National Transportation Safety Board's Office of Railroad,
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Investigations are also
investigating the blast.
After investigators finish looking over the site, workers will
repair the ruptured pipeline, which is expected to take several
days, said Houston-based Enterprise Products Partners LP, which
partially owns the 36-inch-diameter line. It is a 395-mile segment
of a pipeline extending from western to eastern Texas, the company
said in a Tuesday news release.