Fire Sets Off Dynamite in W. Va. Truck
A burning truck loaded with 1000 pounds of dynamite and 500 blasting caps exploded on U.S. 52 in West Virginia between Keystone and Northfork. The April 5 blast of the Austin Powder Company truck injured 16 people, destroyed four homes and obliterated the truck.
Property damaged
The shock waves from the blast ripped off roofs and shattered windows a mile away.
“It moved the walls of my house back and knocked all the windows out, the house was all twisted and gnarled and my wife was blown across the room,” according to Keystone Fire Chief Kenny Dowell.
One Northfork policeman recalled, “It just blew everything up. The houses, their whole insides were just ripped out. They were just shattered.”
Officials estimate property damages reached several hundred thousand dollars.
Driver injured
Among those injured was the driver of the truck, Rick Compton, 24. He first detected smoke billowing from the truck at a stop light in the Northfork business district. Witnesses report that he ran the light and once outside the town, pulled to the side of the road and attempted to douse the blaze with a fire extinguisher.
When Compton realized the truck was going to explode, he made efforts to evacuate the area by running door-todoor of the houses close to the road.
“He did everything he could do,” State Trooper Frank Wood said. “He maneuvered the burning truck through traffic in Northfork safely, tried to extinguish the fire and then evacuated as many residents as he could. He even called the fire department after the explosion. What more could you ask?”
During the hours following the blast, officials faced what they termed a “dangerous situation” at the accident site as they retrieved blasting caps that were scattered during the explosion.