Convenience Store Explosion Blamed on Propane Blast

Source | Associated Press
By SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER

Search to Resume in Wreckage of W.Va. Convenience Store Where Blast Killed 4, Injured 5

GHENT, W.Va. Jan 31, 2007 (AP)— Twenty-five years as a police officer in New Jersey didn’t prepare Mike McDonough for the devastation from a convenience store explosion that killed four people in southern West Virginia and injured five others.

All that was left of the Flat Top Little General Store after Tuesday’s propane blast was a pile of splintered debris, twisted metal framework and a sign showing the price of gasoline. Candy and hot dog wrappers ended up in trees 200 to 300 yards from the store, said McDonough, who lives in nearby Flat Top.

“Strange things happen,” McDonough said.

Authorities had not determined whether any customers were in the store at the time or if there were more victims, state Fire Marshal Sterling Lewis said. A search of the debris was to resume Wednesday.

Seven nearby homes and an elementary school suffered minor damage. No injuries were reported at the school or the homes.

The explosion occurred about 10:50 a.m. as emergency workers were investigating a report of a propane leak, Lewis said. The victims included a building inspector and a volunteer firefighter.

Lewis said store employees were working on an above-ground tank capable of holding 500 pounds of propane. However, that tank and the store’s underground gasoline tanks did not explode, he said.

“It is our initial thought that the fumes entered into the building and had to have an ignition point,” Lewis said.

He said cold temperatures would have kept the gas close to the ground.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said it was sending a team to Ghent. The board makes safety recommendations to industry, labor groups and regulatory agencies.

Beckley-based Little General Inc. had no comment.

William Manning, a bartender at the nearby Bear’s Den, said he heard the explosion at his home 4 miles away in Cool Ridge. Manning drove to the store because his next-door neighbor works there. He said he helped carry her to an ambulance but would not give her name.

“I barely recognized her. I couldn’t believe it was her,” Manning said, crying.

Gov. Joe Manchin met privately with the victims’ relatives at the Ghent Volunteer Fire Department in the rural community about 70 miles southeast of Charleston.

“We seem to continue to go through many difficult times in West Virginia,” Manchin said at a news conference, referring to recent disasters including the deaths of nine people in a fire at a Huntington apartment complex and a string of coal mine accidents.

Four of those injured Tuesday were at Cabell Huntington Hospital on Wednesday and one was at Charleston Area Medical Center, said Celeste Hinzman, spokeswoman for the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Hospital officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.