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Three die in Ramsey building explosion
by Art Hughes, Minnesota Public Radio
December 28, 2004

Dozens of emergency personnel searched through the rubble of a building which was leveled by an explosion Tuesday morning, looking for people who may be trapped. (MPR Photo/Art Hughes)

An explosion Tuesday morning at a small property management office building in Ramsey killed three women and left a man critically injured. Authorities don't know yet what caused the blast.

Ramsey, Minn. — The blast occurred just before 10 a.m., and sent a plume of dust and debris across Highway 10 where the cities of Anoka and Ramsey meet. In seconds, the building that housed the Premier Commercial Properties and a Riverside Bank office was little more than a hole filled with rubble.

Anoka County Sheriff Capt. Bob Aldrich says workers from neighboring businesses ran to the scene before emergency officials got there. He says they helped pull one man from under the collapsed structure.

	Gas leak suspected

"They actually heard one of the victims inside. And they were able to locate him by the sound of his voice and move toward that area, and begin his rescue and the subsequent search for other victims," says Aldrich.

That man, Bob Smith, suffered second- and third-degree burns and was in critical condition at Hennepin County Medical Center. It wasn't immediately clear if Smith was an employee of one of the businesses in the building or a customer.

Soon after Smith's rescue, the outlook turned bleak for anyone else who had been in the building when it exploded. By afternoon, firefighters had erected a tarpaulin canopy over a portion of the site, suggesting a recovery operation. Aldrich says officials discovered from the building owners and others associated with the businesses how many people might've been in the building.

"The thought originally is just the four. I think that still is our working number," says Aldrich. "That doesn't discount the possibility that there may be more, and as they search they're keeping an open mind with that."

Aldrich didn't identify the cause of the explosion. He says officials smelled a strong odor of natural gas at the scene, and he strongly suspects a gas buildup that ignited. He says it's possible for gas to accumulate without the occupants of the building noticing a smell or other problems.

Crews from Centerpoint Energy Minnegasco were called out to the scene at around 10 a.m. Tuesday. Spokesman Rolf Lund says Centerpoint turned off gas to the leveled building by 12:30 p.m.

	Highway 10 traffic

Lund says the utility inspected surrounding businesses for gas leaks as a precaution. Lund says nearby buildings showed no signs of gas leaks.

Lund says Centerpoint will work with a team of investigators to determine the cause of the blast.

"Probably the primary investigators will be the state fire marshall, the Minnesota office of pipeline safety, and then the local public safety officials. They will initiate an investigation," says Lund. "We will be part of that investigation, and at some point a determination will be made about the source and cause of this incident."

Police closed Highway 10 and cordoned off a large space around the blast site. They used a crane and large backhoes to move chunks of concrete and other debris too heavy to lift otherwise.

Amid the wreckage, a tattered flag flew from a pole in front of the business.

Dozens of firefighters and other emergency personnel worked atop the debris pile, while an ambulance waited nearby. They removed the bodies of the first two victims some four hours after the blast. The third victim was found hours later.

	Capt. Robert Aldrich

The destroyed building sat next to a strip of about a half dozen other businesses. Curt Newgard is a manager in the machine shop in the back of the Carquest Auto Parts store adjacent to the building.

"Just a loud bang, and the building vibrated. I thought something fell over or made a big noise out in the store part," says Newgard. "Everybody was outside, and I looked outside and all I seen was a pile of rubble."

Newgard says emergency responders were on the scene within five minutes of the explosion, but several people were already looking for survivors by that time.

Jeff Lane is CarQuest's manager. He says he left the store and was on his way back at the time of the explosion. He says there were three employees in the store when the blast happened.

"I have an outside salesman who was in the store at the time. His car was right out front and some of the debris shot right through his car," says Lane. "It was a pretty big blast. He just had to go home and hug his wife, he said."

Police have not yet identified the dead victims. Officials escorted visibly distraught family members into nearby offices during the search operation.

Ramsey is a town of about 12,500 people about 25 miles northwest of the Twin Cities.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)

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