Chief says propane buildup caused Spooner explosion

SPOONER (AP) — The Spooner fire chief says investigators have determined what caused a large explosion at a chemical plant that critically burned two workers.

Chief Darren Vik says problems with purging propane from a line led to the explosion March 18 at the Cortec Corp. plant in Spooner. The plant makes products for corrosion control.

Vik says in a news release that the explosion happened when an accumulation of the propane used as a propellant in aerosol cans ignited.

He says workers were trying to purge vapor from a pipe in the plant’s gas house, but they had problems, which allowed gas to build up and drift into the production area where a worker was using an electric-power forklift that ignited the gas.

Vik says the forklift operator and another worker are recovering from their injuries.

Tags: cortec, propane, explosion, spooner, plant