Officials identify 2 men killed in Idaho gas station explosion
BOISE, Idaho — Authorities have confirmed that two people were killed when a gas station exploded and sparked a fire in a remote Idaho town last week.
According to the Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office, Brandon Cook, 53, of Orofino, and Wesley Lineberry, 62, of Pierce, were both killed in the explosion at the Atkinson Distributing station in Cardiff on Sept. 11.
Two others were seriously burned in the explosion and subsequent fire and remained hospitalized Wednesday. Separate GoFundMe pages identified the injured as fuel tanker driver Donny Billeter and gas station attendant Roxann Hubbs.
A fuel truck was filling the station’s above-ground tanks when the explosion occurred just after 3 p.m., Idaho Fire Marshal Knute Sandahl said. The explosion destroyed the tanker and sent debris, including truck parts, pipes, pieces of the tank and pieces of the station building, flying across an area the size of a city block, Sandahl said.
Both the tanker driver and the pump attendant were with the truck when the explosion occurred. The bodies of Lineberry and Cook were found just outside the pumping station, but investigators have not yet confirmed whether they were inside or outside the building when the disaster began, Sandahl said.
Sandahl said it was not yet clear what caused the explosion. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are cooperating with the investigation.
“We’re digging deep and it’s just going to take some time,” Sandahl said. “I hope we can put something more definitive out there in October.”
Some nearby buildings were also damaged by the explosion and fire, and residual fuel at the site posed a hurdle for investigators. A regional hazardous materials response team was called in to help contain the danger.
According to Sandahl, explosions at gas stations are rare.
βIn my 19 years as fire chief in Idaho, this is the first incident I’m aware of,β he said.
Unloading, the process of moving fuel from a tanker truck to a station’s storage tanks, increases risk somewhat but is typically still a very safe process because drivers follow specific procedures, he said.
“I think the most dangerous thing, honestly, is filling up your car with gas while you’re smoking or filling plastic gas cans in the bed of your pickup truck,” which increases the risk of sparks from static electricity, Sandahl said. “As we know from high school chemistry, it’s actually the vapors that are volatile, and if there’s a spark, that can cause a problem.”