TACOMA - The family of the truck driver who was killed in a massive explosion at a Tacoma Foundry in October 2007 reached a confidential settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit against Atlas Castings & Technology.
Charles McDonald Sr., was critically burned in the explosion at the foundry and was not found by the responding firefighters until two hours afterward. He survived a week at Harborview Medical Center before succumbing to his injuries.
Attorney John Christensen said the family is relieved they can now put this tragic chapter of their lives behind them.
“After filing the lawsuit in February 2008, we were able to talk to the people directly involved in the explosion and piece together exactly what happened. What we found was a shocking lack of safety and security surrounding the management of the liquid propane system at the Atlas foundry that directly led to the explosions that killed Mr. McDonald,” Christensen said.
When McDonald arrived at the Atlas facility to deliver his load of liquid propane he found the Atlas-owned hose in a state of complete disrepair. The nozzle was off the hose and factory clamps were missing. Unbeknownst to McDonald, two Atlas employees with no experience repairing high-pressure propane hoses were called to do the fix the problem.
“At that point the delivery should have been shut down and rescheduled,” Christensen said. “Had the Atlas crew simply told Chuck to come back after the hose was properly repaired this entire tragedy could have been avoided.”
Instead, the Atlas employees struggled to reattach the nozzle to the hose, at one point using soap and a hammer to pound the nozzle on the hose. An Atlas supervisor walking by the scene suggested they heat the propane hose with a torch. “Atlas tried to blame Chuck for their negligent repairs,” Christensen said. “Unfortunately, we’ll never know what Chuck was doing or thinking at the time.”
After reattaching the nozzle the Atlas employees used two standard radiator clamps to secure the high pressure. Seconds after McDonald attached the hose and started the transfer pump; the hose failed and released hundreds of gallons of liquid propane that enveloped McDonald in a white cloud of gas and vapors. Seconds later the cloud ignited into a fire ball severely burning McDonald over 75 percent of his body. Surveillance video shows McDonald crawling away from the tanker after the “flash explosion.” He miraculously managed to reach the safety of a metal shed where he waited, in agony, until he was found more than two hours later.
Several minutes after the first flash explosion, the BLEVE occurred and the entire tanker truck exploded, sending pieces of metal flying hundreds of feet, shattering windows, knocking out power to thousands.
Tacoma firefighters finally found McDonald in the metal shed and had him airlifted to Harborview where he later died from his injuries.
“My father loved spending time with his family and friends. He had so much compassion for others. This has been such a devastating loss for our family. It’s hard knowing how much pain he went through before he died,” said his daughter, Leeann McDonald. Charles McDonald left behind his wife, Gloria and two children, Leeann and Scott McDonald.
Read more news about the case.
Download the filing press release.
Contact:
Sue Evans
206.792.0408 – Work
253.592.1590 – Cell
sevans@pyramidcommunications.com
