Explosion kills man in old Pendleton city hall
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
The old City Hall building burns on the
corner of southeast First Street and Dorion Avenue as firefighters from
all over Umatilla County battle the blaze Tuesday in Pendleton.
Old City Hall Fire
An explosion and fire Tuesday morning killed a 25-year-old man, injured others and destroyed part of Pendleton’s former city hall building. Firefighters and police remained on the scene through the day though the fire was contained by 10:20 a.m.
The blast occurred at 8:10 a.m. in the century-old structure at 34 S.E. Dorion Ave. Workers in neighboring businesses reported an explosion as loud as a sonic boom.
Eduardo Quezada, 25, was on the third floor of the building when the explosion happened. Quezada died from injuries suffered in the blast.
Two others were sent to the emergency department of St. Anthony Hospital, Pendleton because of smoke inhalation. Casey Severe, a Pendleton contractor, and Christian Garcia were both in “stable” condition according to hospital spokesman Larry Blanc.
Pendleton public safety director Stuart Roberts credited firefighters with keeping the blaze from spreading to neighboring buildings.
“The fire was racing hard to the northwest corner,” he said. “It was moving pretty hard and hot.”
Crews will have to make sure the building is structurally safe before investigating the cause of the explosion. Roberts said police have an idea about the cause but wouldn’t release it without further investigation.
The explosion and fire also knocked out power to nearby businesses. Pacific Corp. spokesman Bob Gravely said as of about press time Tuesday there were nine customers without electricity. He said repairs were on hold until Pendleton fire authorities gave the company the OK to send in a crew and bucket truck.
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Casey Severe said he was pulling into Sherwin Williams, 115 S.E. Emigrant Ave., when he heard the blast and saw smoke billow into the sky. Severe said he thought the kitchen at nearby Sister’s Cafe had blown up and he rushed to help.
He darted between the buildings and saw the fire was not coming from the cafe, but the old city hall. Severe said he noticed Christian Garcia and the two men rushed inside to help.
They found an upstairs room thick with black smoke and he stayed low to the floor to evade it. He found Eduardo injured on the ground and he and Garcia worked to carry the man out. Severe said he looked back and saw the smoke increasing and flames shooting out. They had to move.
That’s when a man in a uniform and another man in plain clothes helped move Quezada down the stairs and out of the building.
Severe said he and Garcia received medical treatment for inhaling smoke but otherwise were physically unharmed. But the man they attempted to rescue did not survive. Severe said his heart ached for Quezada and his family.
Severe, a contractor and cabinet maker by trade, said he is close to the family and knew “Eddie.” He heard from family members it was possible Quezada was working with homemade fireworks, but he did not want to speculate beyond that.
He was adamant, though, that a meth lab did not explode, contrary to rumors. He said Eduardo Quezada was not involved in drugs.
Stuart Roberts also said there was no evidence supporting that theory.
Severe described Quezada as thoughtful and curious, “sometimes to the point he was a little bit daring.” And Quezada never spoke ill of others, Severe said he was well-read and had a fascination for aeronautics.
“He was just a good kid, he was fun to be around,” Severe said.
Quezada was the youngest of his siblings and the son of Jose Quezada, who owns the building. Severe said he was planning on visiting with the family, who now is focused on taking care of themselves and getting Eduardo Quezada’s mother here from Los Angeles.
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Jared Pennington’s fingers shook as he took a drag from his cigarette and described the chaotic aftermath in the moments after the fire. Pennington’s music studio sits on the bottom floor of the old Pendleton City Hall. He was going through his normal morning routine when the explosion rocked the building. Pennington ran outside to try and figure out what had happened and saw smoke pour out from upper story windows.
“I saw glass shattered everywhere,” he said.
When he heard people were inside, he re-entered the building and raced up the stairs to help Quezada. The man was in bad shape, a gash on one leg, missing fingers and an eye, moaning and bleeding profusely. Pennington, a former Marine, said he helped move Quezada outside.
“He was at ground zero,” Pennington said. “He was bad off.”
Charlene Hanson and Loraine Greeno were signing loan papers next door when they heard the blast.
“At first it sounded like thunder. There was a light one, a bigger one and then a huge explosion,” Hanson said. “It blew all the windows out.”
As they watched, a man with bare feet came out a window and landed on the sidewalk.
“He was trying to walk through the glass in his bare feet,” Hanson said. “He went back in.”
A tearful young woman said she and her family lived in the basement of the building. She said she thought an earthquake hit when she heard one explosion and then the roof caved in.
The eruption and fire blew out windows on the building’s third floor. More than an hour after the explosion large flames still burned.
Robert Blanc said he was working at the Edward Jones, just a few doors down from the old city hall, when the building blew.
“It sounded like a sonic boom, one big bang,” he said. “ ... it sounded like it was coming right on top of us.”
He also said one man in underwear and a woman in a nightgown ran out of the destruction.
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Phil Wright, Kathy Aney and Antonio Sierra contributed to this story.