Explosion Shakes Homes As Fire Erupts At Refinery

PAUL FOY

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An explosion at a Utah oil refinery — the second this year — smashed windows, bent garage doors and peeled siding Wednesday from 10 nearby houses, officials said.

Federal investigators expressed alarm over the extent of damages caused by a refinery that has had a history of trouble dating to 2003.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board was still investigating a January fire that burned for 11 hours when it dispatched a team to look at Wednesday's blast at Silver Eagle Refinery in Woods Cross, which is five miles north of Salt Lake City.

In all, 10 homes were damaged, said David McSwain, president of Silver Eagle, a company that operates its only oil refinery in Woods Cross.

A city building inspector condemned one house as structurally unsound after the blast shifted it off its foundation and knocked lose a roof truss, said Woods Cross Mayor Kent Parry. Officials feared the house could collapse in high winds.

The blast started in a vessel, called a diesel hydrotreater, that removes sulfur compounds from diesel fuel, said Donald Holmstrom, the Chemical Safety Board's investigations supervisor.