Man injured in gas plant blast dies

Worker was burned; died at hospital

• Reid Frazier
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Reid R. Frazier is an energy reporter for The Allegheny Front, a Pittsburgh-based public media outlet covering the environment in Pennsylvania. His work has aired on NPR and Marketplace.

A West Virginia man who was burned in a Washington County gas plant explosion has died, officials confirmed.

Jeffrey Fisher, 61, of Salem, W. Va. died Tuesday afternoon at UPMC Mercy hospital in Pittsburgh. Fisher was a burn victim at the hospital, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office, which did not release a cause of death.

Three others were injured, but the company did not release any further details on their conditions.

The blast happened December 13 at MarkWest’s Houston Processing and Fractionation Facility in Chartiers Township. Officials from the company had said that the incident occurred near a pair of temporary storage tanks.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the workers were employed by Energy Transportation LLC of Bridgeport, W.Va.

Fisher had been with the company since January and worked as a driver, said Andria Wymer, director of strategic initiatives for Energy Transportation. Wymer said the company was “saddened by the loss of Mr. Fisher” but declined to discuss details of what he and the other workers were doing at the time of the accident. 

Jamal Kheiry, a spokesman for Marathon Petroleum, MarkWest’s parent company, released a statement:

“We are deeply saddened that one of the contract employees injured during the Dec. 13 incident at our Houston, Pennsylvania, facility has died of his injuries. We continue working with federal, state and local agencies to investigate the incident.”

OSHA and Pennsylvania State Police fire marshals are investigating.

Editor's Picks