Propane-tank explosion

A propane tank exploded at a wastewater-treatment plant Thursday, burning five workers when a fireball ripped through a building they were constructing at Picnic Point Wastewater Treatment Plant.

One worker was in serious condition and three others were in satisfactory condition at Harborview Medical Center. One was treated and released.

The accident happened just after 11 a.m. at the treatment plant, which is being rebuilt and expanded north of Edmonds on Picnic Point Road.

A worker was putting a 1,000 gallon propane tank onto a truck to take it off the site. The tank, which was the size of a small car and had been used temporarily for heat, had about 300 gallons of propane in it.

The load shifted, causing the tank to move unexpectedly, and a valve snapped off the tank, said Leslie Hynes, a spokeswoman for Snohomish County Fire District 1. The truck driver "yelled for people to clear the area, and then the explosion occurred," she said.

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