PROPANE GAS EXPLOSIONS IN JACKSON HOLE, WY AT AMERIGAS PROPANE COMPANY

PROPANE GAS EXPLOSIONS IN JACKSON HOLE, WY AT AMERIGAS PROPANE COMPANY 

November 20, 2014.  JACKSON – Multiple explosions at the AmeriGas facility in southwest Jackson were reported early this afternoon by Teton County Emergency Management. The facility, located off High School Road, as well as businesses within a one-block radius are under a mandatory evacuation order. So far, no injuries have been reported.

 Regarding the explosion incident at AmeriGas on High School Rd, all evacuation orders have been lifted by emergency services.  Residents of Eagle Village Townhomes, however, will be asked to refrain from entering their homes until Lower Valley Energy has safely restored natural gas services to them, which is estimated to be around 7pm.  Smith’s grocery store has just reopened to the public.

All businesses in the area except for Bell Fitness and AmeriGas will be open tomorrow as usual.  All schools will also be open as normal tomorrow.

The Jackson Hole News&Guide reported that the AmeriGas building exploded at around 12:45 p.m. and that one of the businesses adjacent to it, Bell Fitness, was on fire. Vehicles in the parking lot were also burning, according to reports.

A man who works in a nearby office who didn’t want to be named said he was worried for the people in Bell Fitness who would have been there during lunch hour to work out.

“They were there,” he said. “They were a piece of tin and a little bit of insulation away from it all.”

Jackson Hole High School, Middle School, Colter Elementary and Summit High School a little farther away were asked to shelter in place, while the Jackson Hole Community School was asked to evacuate. Police cordoned off the roads and nearby parking lots and even a bike path that runs through the area, all while warning bystanders of toxic fumes.

Other businesses impacted by the evacuation order are Smith's Food Plaza and the Flat Creek Business Center. Sweet Peas day care and the Teton Literacy Center are both located inside the Flat Creek Business Center, and students from both have been evacuated to the Colter school gym.

Paul Perry, ironically the owner of AmeriGas’s former building where he runs Canvas Unlimited, a party tent rental company, said his building is just across from AmeriGas’s newest facility in a phone interview. The explosion rained ash down on his parking lot and sent his insurance agent scrambling proactively to say she would check out the damage when the area was secured.

“One big explosion rocked it pretty hard” and two more came soon after, he said. “We thought it was, say, an earthquake. We went outside and there was a massive column of flames. I knew the propane company was having some bad times over there.”

He and his employees moved away from their building, leaving lights and computers on. He added that he could easily feel the heat from the flames.

“We were probably 100 feet away and it was raging,” Perry said.

Another large explosion came about 10 minutes later, prompting him to move even farther from the AmeriGas facility.

“There was nothing the fire department could do as each of the tanks exploded until it burnt out,” Perry said. “They were spraying water quite a ways to get to the lot because they didn’t want to get too close either.”

Water soon arced through the air as fire fighters fought the blaze from a distance. One fire truck parked by the Smith’s near the AmeriGas facility sent a fire fighter up in the scoop to rain down on the flames after the gas had burned out.

The worker, who had been evacuated and was hoping for the all clear to get back to work, also gave an account of what happened from a little farther away.

“I was sitting at my desk working away and all the sudden I hear the windows shaking like 10 bodies upstairs had jumped up and down on the floor above me,” he said. “It happened the second time … and I saw the flames just flying through the air.”

He said from where he was it wasn’t that loud.

“You could hear things booming – like, kind of boom!” he said. “And those were probably the smaller propane tanks. What was loud, though, was when we opened the door and you could hear the gas being pushed out of the bigger tanks and it was like a wind rushing through a canyon. Really loud.”

Continuing coverage by the News&Guide quoted law enforcement officials at the scene as saying that one 10,000 gallon propane tank at AmeriGas is in range of the fire, and if it explodes it could take much of a nearby Smith’s grocery store with it.

“When it was booming that was probably when the most danger was,” the man said. “Now that they’re up there spraying the water down, I don’t think that big tank … is gonna go.”

By 2:17 p.m. the fire was "diminished but not out" Incident Commander Kathy Clay told the News&Guide.