Four hurt in LaCrosse grain elevator explosion, fire

Debris litters an overhang at the Co-Alliance LaCrosse Feed Mill after an explosion on Thursday morning. Four employees were injured.

Four men were injured Thursday in a grain elevator blast powerful enough to blow large holes out of both sides of a 175-foot-tall feed mill.

Residents as far away as Union Mills, about 15 miles away, reported hearing the 9 a.m. explosion and feeling their houses shake.

All of the victims were employees of the Co-Alliance LaCrosse Feed Mill, at 410 Howard St., just east of U.S. 421.

The two most seriously injured workers — Jonah Pacione, 19, and Emilio Galicia, 43 — were taken by helicopter to St. Joseph Burn Center in Fort Wayne.

Craig Chase, 34, and Chris Fort, 26, were taken by ambulance to Porter Regional Hospital near Valparaiso with undisclosed injuries, police said.

About half of the concrete tower on the east side was blown off while damage to the east side of the structure was less extensive, but toward the top there was a gaping hole.

The tower houses a mill that grinds corn and other grain into feed for hogs and other farm animals. The product is then moved on a conveyor into two adjacent silos for storage before transported to market.

LaCrosse Fire Department Safety Officer Larry Rust ordered the area sealed off due to a risk for collapse and felt damage to the structure was too extensive to be rebuilt.

Because the investigation was in the early stages, a cause of the explosion was not known but, typically, in any silo blast grain dust because of its combustibility is one of the first things looked at as having a possible role.

«Any little spark from anything can set that off,» LaCrosse Fire Chief Aaron Rust said.

He said the explosion produced a flash fire, but only a small number of pallets were burning and some of the grain was smoldering.

The feed was saturated with water poured down from a ladder truck to prevent any of the hot spots from igniting more of the grain.

Aaron Rust said one of the workers was about 10 feet from where the explosion occurred while the others were roughly 40 to 50 feet away.

All of them were on the ground and managed to walk on their own power for help to a scale house some 50 feet away. he said.

Authorities said there were no confirmed reports of any damage to surrounding homes and other structures, but Vicki Brettman said she plans on having her foundation inspected just to be safe.

Don Wantola, employed by the Chesapeake and Indiana Railroad, said he was in his office about a half-mile away when he heard three consecutive explosions.

«It sounded like a big bomb going off,» he said.

Justin Kiel, 18, said he ran from his house after hearing the explosions to see if he could help. He said one of the injured men was stumbling out of the elevator with his face covered in dust.

«It felt more like an earthquake,» Kiel said.

Brettman, who has lived across the street from the grain elevator for more than 40 years, was awakened by the blast that she described as sounding louder than thunder.

«The house shook pretty good,» she said.

The investigation was turned over to the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s Office, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

«We use those agencies’ expertise to help us get a determination,» LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Mike Kellems said.

Co-Alliance officials said updates on the condition of the employees and the cause of the explosion will be released when they become available.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the employees who were injured today,» Co-Alliance CEO Kevin A. Still in a written statement. «We have notified their families and provided them the location of the medical facilities where their loved ones were taken for treatment.»

He said Co-Alliance personnel were going to be at the hospitals to help provide assistence «to the employees and their families.»

«We do not yet know the cause of the accident, but will work with the authorities in their investigation,” he said.

Co-Alliance also operates a grain elevator in Union Mills where an explosion in 2013 killed 67-year-old James Swank, who was knocked off a work platform that was more than 100 feet off the ground.

Fuente: www.nwitimes.com