Teens recuperate from gas well blast || 911 AUDIO


The teens don’t appear to have life-threatening injuries, a Hartford police officer said.

By Ed Runyan

Gas Well Explosion

Audio Clip

VERNON — Boys ages 15 and 16 were burned but don’t have life-threatening injuries after they accidentally ignited vapors in a gas-well tank while smoking a cigarette.

The tank, on a well-road off of Milligan East Road close to the Pennsylvania border, exploded at about 8:15 p.m. Wednesday.

The blast pushed out the top and bottom of the pop can-shaped tank, broke open holes in its top, blew off the ladder the boys were standing on and knocked them to the ground, police said.

Patrolman Eric Ruschak of the Hartford Township Police Department, whose department is handling the accident investigation, said he was not releasing the names of the boys, one of whom lives in Vernon Township and the other in Pennsylvania.

The 16-year-old suffered burns to the side of his leg. The 15-year-old was burned on his right shoulder and face.

Two helicopters took the boys to the Akron Children’s Hospital Burn Center, Ruschak said, where they were “doing OK, so far” Thursday afternoon. They were talking and coherent while waiting to be taken to the hospital, Ruschak said.

The boys’ injuries appeared to be limited to burns, with nothing broken during the fall, he said.

“They got lucky,” Ruschak said, noting that he discovered a shoe about 95 feet to the east of the tank, presumably blown off of one of the boys during the blast. The boy was wearing no shoes when he saw him, Ruschak said, adding that he has not inteviewed either boy.

After the explosion, the boys “limped across the street” to the nearest house, where the homeowner called 911, Ruschak said.

Ruschak said the boys, who are friends, were riding their bicycles on the rural residential road that dead ends at the Pennsylvania line when they decided to have a cigarette.

On a piece of the gas well equipment next to the tank is a sign that reads: “Danger. No trespassing. No open flames. No smoking.”

They climbed the ladder to the tank about halfway when the tank exploded, Ruschak said, adding that he doesn’t believe the boys caused the explosion on purpose.

“It looks like it was an accident. I don’t think anyone would do that on purpose,” Ruschak said.

Thursday afternoon, Edward C. Smith, owner of Cobra Resources LLC of Canfield, which owns the tank, said the tank contained crude oil and fumes, which are vented continuously.

The tank, which is about 15 feet high and big enough to contain about 210 barrels of oil, doesn’t contain natural gas, because the gas is diverted into an underground pipeline.

Smith said he doesn’t know how much crude oil was in the tank, but he’s pretty sure none of the oil burned, exploded or otherwise left the tank. The only holes in the tank were in the top, he said.

Ruschak said it doesn’t appear that practically any of the oil left the tank, which is contained in a dike formed by earth and gravel. Ruschak called the Trumbull County Hazardous Materials team to the scene Wednesday night as a precaution.

Smith said the Trumbull County representative for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ mineral division came to the site Thursday morning as well.

runyan@vindy.com

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