Charleston Gazette
April 18, 2006
Five injured in Canaan Valley blast

Injuries to four are severe; men were building house


By The Associated Press


THOMAS - Five construction workers were injured, four of them severely, in an apparent natural gas explosion at a home construction site near the Canaan Valley Resort, State Police said Monday.

The blast occurred about 10:20 a.m. in a housing development in the Flat Ridge area, near the popular ski resort, said State Police Sgt. R.L. Stump.

The five workers were building a home and somehow ignited a gas leak, Stump said. The state fire marshal's office is investigating.

More on the link http://wvgazette.com/section/News/2006041721

Just found out a couple of the guys laid the block on my house up there.One of the guys is the brother in law of the contractor that put in my foundation/septic/well. He informed me that the owner of the house which is up on Pointy Knob(south end of Canaan Vly) owed some money & three of the guys were sent up there to meet the owner to collect. When they arrived there were 2 guys inside doing some drywall work. They sat around waiting for the owner who didn't show, so they decided to leave but not before the house blew up! Talk about bad timing!! I understand that the house used Nat gas which is not as detectable as propane which I use at my house.The Mtn also gets bad lightning (heard a story of fireballs after lightning strikes)...Little scary with gas around.

Oh my God! I probably know some of these people. My prayers are with them.

Back Hollow Road? my neighborhood, hope & pray those guys will be OK. That picture's pretty scary stuff.

I may know some of these people. I hope they are ok.... My thoughts are with them and their families.

Latest info on the fire. 2 of the injured passed this week, the other 3 remain in critical condition. Here is a link to an article with the names of the workers:
http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=10432

That's awful! I was being the optimist and hoping
that they would all pull through. Just goes to show you that
you can't take anything for granted....

-Warren-

Just a brief update for anyone still tracking this story. But last week 2 of the surviving contractors passed. All told, 4 men died from their injuries in this explosion. The one survivor has been released from the hospital. The cause of the accident remains under investigation.

http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=4875341&nav=menu45_2