October 19, 2008-
LARUE, Ohio – An explosion at a remote Marion County oil well killed two men today and, to hear Hobert Conley tell it, very nearly took his life, too.
Less than a quarter-mile away, Conley’s country home is the closest one to the oil well that operates on private property just off Rubins Road in northwestern Marion County.
Conley was in his woodshop when he heard and felt the explosion just after 2:30 p.m. He and his wife took off in his pickup truck and were first on the scene. They were too late to help.
Authorities say Jessie Price, 45, and Kevin Fout, 53, were welding a catwalk on one of four large crude-oil storage tanks at the rig site when a tank exploded. Both men, who lived in the LaRue area, died instantly.
When Conley got to the long gravel drive leading to the tanks, he called 911 and sent his wife to get more help. The flames were contained to one tank but were shooting probably 30feet into the air.
Conley saw a victim lying on the back of a truck next to the tanks. Despite the searing heat, he went closer.
Just feet from the fire, something told him to stop.
He turned and began to run.
A second tank exploded. The ground beneath Conley’s feet shook, and the roar hurt his ears.
The billboard-size lid from the tank sailed over him through the air. It sheared off branches and ripped hunks out of the trunks of four-story-tall trees in a nearby woods. It landed about a football field away from the tanks and that’s where it was, embedded in the ground, last night.
“I knew I was running for my life,” the 56-year-old Conley said. “A few seconds either way or a different decision and I wouldn’t be here. What happened is tragic, and what I saw is nothing I’ll soon forget.”
The explosions were heard as far as 6 miles away and the calls “lit up the switchboard like a Christmas tree” at the 911 center, Marion County Sheriff Tim Bailey said.
Six fire departments responded, and the fire itself was extinguished in probably less than 20 minutes, said Marseilles Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steve Dickinson.
Investigators from the state fire marshal’s office were at the scene, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had been notified, although it was unclear if the federal agency would get involved.
Bailey said the oil wells are operated by a company called Mar Oil and the property is owned by the Roszman family, although nothing else about either could be confirmed last night.
Relatives of Fout and Price who were at the scene declined an interview.
But it wasn’t only family members who were hurting. In a small, rural community like this one, everyone feels the loss, said Tim Benjamin, chaplain of the Marseilles department.
Standing near the tanks, the smell of oil still chokingly thick in the air, Benjamin reached under his firefighter’s helmet and wiped the sweat.
Several of the volunteers knew the victims, he said.
“This one is personal,” he said. “Out here, they’re all personal. And it is so hard to take.”
He said he was there as members of the Marion County sheriff’s office tried to comfort the men’s families. Benjamin said everyone felt simply helpless.
“Here were two men, just working hard on a Sunday afternoon and trying to do their jobs,” he said. “God must help us make sense of terrible times like these.”
Original Source: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/10/19/oilrig.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101
