Dec 19, 2014 2 min read

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An explosion and fire at Chevron Appalachia’s Lanco well pad in Dunkard Township on the morning of Feb. 11 killed one worker and injured another.

The fire at two of the three wells on the pad burned for four days before extinguishing themselves but continued to emit natural gas until capped the last week in February.

The worker who died was identified as Ian McKee, 27, who was employed by Cameron International, a Chevron contractor. McKee was listed as unaccounted for until Feb. 27, when his remains were found at the site.

The well was in a remote area and no residents were evacuated. Air samples taken by the state Department of Environmental Protection following the explosion indicated no pollutants at levels harmful to local residents or emergency responders.

In a report issued in August, DEP said the explosion may have resulted from human error by a contract worker on the site with little oilfield experience.

The fire ignited about 6:45 a.m., the report said, when employees for Cameron were preparing for a safety briefing and McKee and another worker walked toward one of the well heads, which was covered by a tarp, to investigate a hissing sound.

The cause of the ignition was unknown though the report said several ignition sources were nearby, including a truck with equipment to heat brine and heated air blowers.

The report criticized Chevron for its lack of oversight of contractors at the well pad that, among other things, allowed an inexperienced employee of Cameron to do work for which he was neither trained nor properly supervised.

The well site manager had “virtually no background” in the industry and because of other duties had no time to supervise contractors, the report said.

DEP also criticized, and cited, Chevron for initially barring DEP personnel from the site. The company also failed to provide DEP with “meaningful” updates during regularly scheduled briefings and excluded DEP from discussions between Chevron and Wild Well Control, the company brought in by Chevron to control the fire, the report said.