Documents released this week by state officials allege that numerous safety violations led to a September 2023 natural gas fire in Toppenish that killed a man and injured another.
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission's pipeline safety staff members allege 66 pipeline safety violations in the Sept. 22, 2023, incident that resulted in the death of 62-year-old Earnest D. Barnett. The commission's staff has recommended nearly $5.7 million in fines against Cascade Natural Gas of Kennewick.
Alleged violations include a failure to notify the commission of the use of portable liquid natural gas equipment; failure to equip an employee with flame-resistant clothing; failure to secure the wheels of the transport truck; and failure to follow proper fire protection and emergency procedures.
A news release from the commission indicates that around 83 barrels of liquid natural gas were released during a delivery. The gas formed a vapor cloud on the northern edge of Toppenish.
Firefighters found a pickup on fire next to several LNG trailers when they arrived. Nearby homes and Toppenish Middle School were evacuated, and roads in the area were closed.
The vapors ignited upon contact by a nearby ignition source. Barnett sustained severe burns and died two days later at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, according to the King County Medical Examiner's Office.
UTC staff indicated the truck driver also suffered burns from the fire and was treated and released from MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital. The UTC staff document added that the man, whose identity was not released, spent several days in another hospital for his injuries after returning to Orlando, Fla.
When contacted by the Yakima Herald-Republic, Cascade spokesman Byron Pfordte said the company is reviewing the incident and the UTC staff filing.
"Cascade Natural Gas is evaluating the allegations made by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission in this complaint," Pfordte wrote in an email. "Safety is a core value at Cascade, and we take these allegations seriously."
Background
Cascade Natural Gas is a subsidiary of Montana Dakota Utilities. In the years leading up to the incident, the company acquired many small gas systems throughout Washington. The UTC ordered the company to validate the maximum allowable pressure for many of the pipelines where information wasn't available or couldn't be verified. The company was required to test high-pressure supply lines to several Lower Yakima Valley towns, and it set up mobile LNG sites as part of the testing, the UTC staff document said.
Cascade hired Sapphire Energy Solutions to supply and feed liquid natural gas, or LNG, into its system. Sapphire subcontracted with two trucking companies, one of them Southern Pines Trucking, to transport LNG to mobile LNG sites to keep the systems operating during the testing, including one in Toppenish near the intersection of Buena Way and McDonald Road.
Delivery to the Toppenish site began on July 30, 2023, and on Aug. 14 Sapphire began operating the site by pumping LNG into Cascade's system, UTC staff reported.
On Friday, Sept. 22, a driver employed by Southern Pines Trucking arrived at the site with an LNG delivery at 9:39 a.m. Two Sapphire employees helped the driver back the truck up into the unloading area, with Barnett hooking a transfer hose from the truck into the delivery container, the document said.
In prior deliveries to the Toppenish site, wheels of the transfer trailers were secured with chocks to prevent the trailer from pulling away before the transfer of LPG was completed, the document said. However, on Sept. 22, the trailer wheels were not chocked, the UTC staff alleges, as the chocks were found inside the trailer after the incident.
Information about the next pick-up and delivery of LPG were communicated to the driver about 20 minutes into the LPG transfer, and the driver "took this communication to mean that the transfer was complete," the UTC document said.
Typically, LNG transfers take one to two hours to complete, and after receiving the information and paperwork, the driver allegedly did not get out of the truck to confirm the Toppenish delivery was finished, document stated.
Instead, about 25 minutes into the transfer process, the driver started the truck and began driving away while it was still connected to the transfer container, the document stated. This resulted in the LNG transfer hose detaching from the on-site storage container, releasing an LNG vapor cloud.
Both the driver and Barnett, one of the Sapphire employees, attempted to shut a valve and stop the flow of LNG, with the driver having only a hardhat and face shield when he entered the vapor cloud, the document said.
Sapphire procedures require employees to evacuate the scene of the vapor cloud, not enter it, the document said. A generator and onsite vaporizers were all close to the vapor cloud and running at the time of the incident.
"There were roughly one minute and 13 seconds between the hose separation and vapor cloud ignition when these ignition sources could have been eliminated," the document stated. "Given the time between separation and ignition and the location of personnel immediately following separation, it appears no one attempted to shut off the vaporizer or running generator."
Fire and aftermath
The vapor cloud fire ignited from an unknown source at 10:23 a.m., and although the vapor cloud fire extinguished quickly, it ignited a fire in the nearby grass, the document stated. Two vaporizer trailers and an on-site pickup truck also caught fire.
Toppenish Fire Department equipment and personnel responded at 10:26 a.m., arrived on the scene at 10:30 and the grass fire and burning machinery were extinguished by 11:45, court documents and Toppenish Fire Chief Timothy B. Smith reported.
The driver and Barnett were transported to the Yakima hospital with injuries resulting from the vapor fire, with Barnett taken to Harborview in Seattle with second- and third-degree burns on his face and neck, the UTC document stated. He died as a result of his injuries two days later.
UTC's pipeline safety staff investigation has requested the commission impose a penalty of $5,668,595 against Cascade Natural Gas Corp. after alleging the 66 pipeline safety violations.
The commission will review the complaint and supporting evidence before making a final decision. A virtual prehearing conference has been scheduled for April 25 in front of an administrative law judge.
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