WOODS CROSS, Utah—
A combination of hydrogen and diesel leaking from a pipe caused an explosion Wednesday morning at the Silver Eagle Refinery in Woods Cross that rocked nearby homes, buckled garage doors and blew out windows. Residents that live near the refinery reported that they felt a "significant boom." The blast occurred at about 9:15 a.m. when the hydrogen and diesel found an ignition source on the ground.The power of the blast did considerable damage to several homes. One house was shook hard enough to rock off its foundation.
"I went to the store, came home, walked into the door, closed the door and as soon as I closed the door and turned to go down the stairs, it just completely blew," said Megan Thomas, a resident who lives close to the refinery. "The door then flew wide open, my dog ran between my legs and all the glass behind my house was just coming off the walls and was just shattering everywhere. And the next thing I thought was 'where's my mom' because she was in bed sick and we had no idea what had happened."
Firefighters arrived on the scene quickly and no injuries were reported. Large billows of smoke were seen above the refinery at the time of the explosion and crews are now putting out hot spots.
Firefighters and the mayor of Woods Cross said the situation is now under control.
"There have been a number of changes that they have made over the past six months as far as their capacity to deal with incidents here and they responded very well," said Kent Parry, mayor of Woods Cross.
There was no evacuation at the refinery from the explosion, but 1100 West is now closed between 1500 and 2600 South while crews clean up the scene and put out hot spots.
The Silver Eagle Refinery has had three previous explosions from earlier 2009, where three people were hospitalized; 2007 when crude oil ignited; and in 2005.
FOX 13's Sandy Riesgraf reports.
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