Yesterday afternoon, a natural gas pipeline explosion in Collin County fatally injured two people and hospitalized two more. The explosion occurred around 3:35 PM just north of Farmersville. The victims of the explosion were reportedly a group of workers employed by different companies: two of them were Atmos Energy subcontractors, while the other two were employees of Bobcat Contracting and Fesco Petroleum Engineering.
At the time of the explosion, the four workers were doing pipeline maintenance. Skylah Spradlin, whose home is right on the edge of the property where the explosion occurred, witnessed the explosion. “It lasted as long as a gunshot would,” she said, “It was a really loud boom…No screams, nothing no smell, nothing.”
Assistant Chief Nick Bristow of the Collin County Sheriff’s Office told reporters that the explosion appears to be an accident, but the FBI was called to assist due to their experience with post-blast scenes. Additionally, officials from the Wylie Fire Department, the Farmersville Police Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety responded to the incident.
An official from the U.S. Labor Department told reporters that no other information will be available until the investigation is concluded.
Atmos Energy Found Responsible for Fatal 2018 Gas Explosion
Earlier this year, the NTSB unanimously found Atmos Energy responsible for a natural gas pipeline explosion that took the life of a 12-year-old girl in 2018. The NTSB found that Atmos had “inadequate pipeline management” and “insufficient leak investigation” that led to a fatal explosion.
The NTSB investigation found that the explosion was caused by natural gas accumulation under a residential street in Dallas caused by a 23-year-old leak. Atmos had a chance to prevent the fatal explosion because there were two related gas incidents two days beforehand, but their investigation was not thorough enough to find the leak.
NTSB member Michael Graham was particularly concerned with Atmos Energy’s procedure following their discovery of the earlier gas incident. “I don’t understand why Atmos did not shut off the gas,” he said. “…They should have shut it down to figure out what was going on.”
The 2018 explosion required a 3-year investigation before the family of the 12-year-old got answers. Our gas explosion lawyers hope that investigators on the gas explosion in Collin County will not take long to reveal their findings.