Moments after an explosion erupted at a U.S. Steel plant outside Pittsburgh, company firefighters, local res
ponders and employees raced in to rescue people from the smoldering wreckage.
They were able to free one injured worker who was whisked to a hospital. But one more was still missing, and the
area was too unstable to continue working, according to Matthew Brown, chief of Allegheny County Emergency Services.
A Pittsburgh-based crew from Pennsylvania Urban Search & Rescue was called in to help, some of whose
members were already responding through their affiliations with local fire departments, Brown said. The team stabilized a wall at the plant and used an advanced cam
era to detect the missing employee. They pulled away the rubble and were able to extract the body of the worker, who died.
Monday’s explosion, which was powerful enough to shake nearby homes, killed two workers and injured more t
han 10 others. Five people ranging in age from 27 to 74 remained hospitalized Tuesday including the rescued worker, w
ho was in critical but stable condition, according to the Allegheny County Police Department. Three were at UPMC Mercy, the region’s only level-one trauma and burn center.
The massive plant along the Monongahela River in Clairton conv
erts coal to coke, a key component in the steelmaking process. The facility is considered the largest coking operation in North America and is one of four major U.S. Steel plants in Pennsylvania.
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To make coke, coal is baked in special ovens for hours at high temperatures to remove impurities that could other
wise weaken steel. The process creates what’s known as coke gas — a lethal mix of methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
U.S. Steel’s chief manufacturing officer, Scott Buckiso, said workers were conducting routine operations at the time of the accident.
Two loud booms that followed the initial blast were initially thought to be subsequent explosions, but
Buckiso said they were from the activation of two relief pressure valves — a safety mechanism that operated as expected.