The explosion and fire in the Horizon Biofuels wood pellet plant in Fremont, which took the lives of a father and his two young daughters, on July 29 was preventable, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said Wednesday.
The board’s preliminary investigation found evidence pointing to the accumulation, dispersion and ignition of combustible wood dust as being the cause of the explosion.
“This terrible tragedy should not have happened,” Steve Owens, chair of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, said in a press release. “Preliminary evidence points to a combustible wood dust explosion, a well known — and completely avoidable — hazard in wood processing.”
The board’s investigation noted the incident began shortly before noon on July 29 when dust or smoke suddenly was released from the plant’s tower. The release was quickly followed by flames and a much larger blast that “caused significant structural damage,” according to the board’s statement.
Dylan Danielson, 32, and his two daughters, 8-year-old Fayeah and 12-year-old Hayven, died as a result of the explosion. Dylan Danielson worked at the plant and brought his daughters to work with him that day. Danielson was trapped inside the collapsed tower when he died. His daughters were in the plant’s break room when they were killed.
The board noted first responders were unable to enter the building and recover the bodies until July 30 due to the building’s unstable and fiery condition. The board also said the explosion caused severe damage within the plant, affected vehicles in and close by the facility and led to road closures that disrupted local businesses for several days.
The board also noted several subsequent fires at the plant. It added combustible material at the facility has continued to smolder for more than a month.
Horizon Biofuel’s handling of wood dust has fueled concerns and investigations in the years leading up to the July explosion.
In January, a neighboring business filed an air quality complaint with the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy against Horizon Biofuels, alleging that sawdust from the plant was accumulating on their cars and clogging drainage ditches, which inspections from the state department and Fremont city officials later confirmed.
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Federal officials in 2012 found five safety violations during an inspection of the Fremont plant, including failure to ensure that areas around working machinery were kept clean in order to prevent fire hazards.
The report specifically noted that Horizon Biofuels failed to ensure that wood dust did not accumulate around a milling machine.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration lists dust as an explosion hazard and states, “Any combustible material can burn rapidly when in a finely divided form.”
A fire in Horizon Biofuels’ grain elevator in May 2014 later put the facility out of commission for about two months, according to past reporting in The World-Herald.
The 2014 fire caused electrical damage and was mostly confined within the concrete building, fire officials said at the time. The company reported recovering to normal operations within about six months.
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board continues to investigate the Horizon Biofuels explosion. The board said the structurally compromised plant building is at risk of further collapse and people should not approach.
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Dan Crisler
Public safety reporter
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