Wellhead explosion seriously burns 1 in southwest Wyoming

Fires and explosions make news around the United States on a daily – if not hourly – basis.

If you set a Google alert for “home explosion” or “apartment fire,” your inbox will be inundated with updates.

Here is a sampling of recent headlines:

Wellhead explosion
seriously burns 1 in Wyoming

From Fox 13, Salt Lake City: One person was seriously burned Saturday (Feb. 23) after a wellhead explosion in Evanston, a small town of about 12,500 in southwest Wyoming.

The person injured in the wellhead explosion was taken to Evanston Regional Hospital and later transported to the University of Utah Burn Unit in Salt Lake City, about 80 miles southwest of Evanston.

Uinta County Fire and Ambulance posted to its Facebook page that fire and EMS crews responded to the wellhead explosion near Henry Fork Road.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the cause of the wellhead explosion.

One person was seriously burned Saturday after a wellhead explosion in Evanston, a small town of about 12,500 in southwest Wyoming. The next day in Lorain, Ohio, a woman died in a fire in her apartment, which reportedly had no working smoke detectors.

Lorain apartment fire
results in woman’s death

From WKYC 3, Cleveland: An apartment fire Sunday night (Feb. 24) claimed the life of a Lorain woman. Initial reports stated there were no working smoke detectors in the apartment.

Crews responded to the fire at about 7 p.m. at the apartment complex at 3730 Beavercrest Drive in Lorain, about 30 miles west of Cleveland. When they arrived, one unit was filled with smoke, and a 61-year-old woman was inside.

The victim was taken to Lorain’s Mercy Regional Medical Center, where she later died. Her identity has not been released.

A Lorain Fire Department spokesperson said the fire appears to have started in the kitchen, but its cause has not been determined.

Two are injured in
DeKalb County apartment fire

From CBS46, Atlanta: Two people suffered minor injuries in an apartment fire off of Covington Highway on Sunday.

Low Moor home explosion:
One person hospitalized

From KWQC-TV6, Davenport, Iowa: One person was injured Saturday after a home explosion in Low Moor, Iowa. The fire happened on the 3400 block of 292nd St. Derek Hoenig, the Low Moor fire chief, said the cause of the fire is unknown.

Fire crews had a difficult time getting to the home because of poor road conditions due to the storm in the area. The road to the home is an unmaintained private drive.

Crews had to use a road grader to aid in emergency vehicles driving down the road. TV6 reported that at least one ambulance got stuck on the road.

Dakota County explosion:
Second person dies

From Minneapolis Star Tribune: A second person has passed away from injuries sustained in a Feb. 5 home explosion in Dakota County, Minnesota.

Brian Suilmann, 57, was critically burned and hospitalized at Regions Hospital in St. Paul immediately after the blast in Hampton, about 25 miles south of St. Paul. Suilmann’s wife, Terry Snoeyenbos, 56, died in the explosion.

The day of the explosion, calls came into the Sheriff’s Office about 6:15 a.m., with people 10 miles away in Hastings and Farmington reporting a loud boom. A cloud of smoke was seen rising over the tree line on the 24700 block of Lewiston Boulevard, just south of the interchange of Hwy. 52 and Hwy. 50 southeast of the Twin Cities.

Deputies arrived to find the house leveled and Suilmann, who was severely burned, wandering the area looking for his wife, Sheriff Tim Leslie said.

Authorities said the couple were the only people inside the house at the time of the explosion. Investigators have yet to reveal a cause for the blast.