A Cascade Gas employee responding to a gas leak emergency at the Motel 6 in Bremerton, Washington, was critically injured when the motel exploded, collapsed and burned. According to Bremerton Police, the worker suffered second- and third-degree burns and a serious cut to his head. He was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for critical care treatment.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Cascade Gas employee critically injured tonight,” the Police Department said on its official Twitter account.
The police also said firefighters at the scene of the explosion — which occurred about 30 minutes after the hotel was evacuated because of a gas smell — were blown back 20 feet by the force of the explosion. Investigators are focusing on a gas meter which may have been malfunctioning. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) will assist in the investigation, which could take several weeks. Explosion lawyers for anyone injured at the scene also could conduct reviews.
Public safety workers searched the rubble, but found no one dead. Still the investigation was continuing two days after the Tuesday night accident. Any injured people could have a right to file an explosion lawsuit depending on the cause of the blast. Bremerton is located west of Seattle, across Puget Sound.
Explosion lawyers at our firm fight gas companies, building owners, equipment manufacturers and other responsible parties to hold them accountable for the horrible pain and disfigurement resulting from gas explosion injuries. We have seen many examples where the explosion was not the fault of the gas company, but of others who previously caused damage to critical equipment. Information like that would be crucial in this case, since a gas company employee was among the injured.