Two men who were severely injured in a propane fire Wednesday took heroic actions to prevent a much larger catastrophe, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
Two employees of Cenex, aged 57 and 66, were badly burned in a large fire at a propane facility around 2 p.m. on June 11, sheriff’s spokesperson Carly Cappetto told The News Tribune. The incident occurred in the 15800 block of 66th Avenue Northwest in the Gig Harbor area, according to a Facebook post by Cappetto.
She said there was an accidental leak of liquid propane from a 120-gallon liquid propane tank, and it caught fire from a still-unknown source in the backyard of the facility.
Despite their significant burns, the employees heroically followed procedure to shut off the valve to a nearby 3,200-gallon propane tank and prevent a massive explosion, Cappetto said.
“The Fire Marshal said if the other propane tanks caught fire, we’re talking an explosion that could have taken out a neighborhood or nearby high school,” she said. “A mile radius of communities would have to have been evacuated. What they did probably saved a lot of lives.”
Cappetto said although neighbors reported hearing an explosion, no propane tanks exploded, and they likely heard the sound of the propane igniting. The first 911 call came in at 2:01 p.m., and emergency services were dispatched within two minutes and extinguished the flames, she said.
She said the two men were found severely burned and were taken via ambulance to a nearby high school, where helicopters airlifted them to Harborview Medical Center. Cappetto said both employees remained intubated and in critical condition Friday. She said if their situations do improve, they will likely face a long, difficult recovery. One has internal burns from breathing in the ignited chemical, she said.
The Pierce County Fire Marshal has launched an investigation into the cause of the fire. The incident is currently being investigated as an accident, Cappetto said.
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