FLAGSTAFF — A crew from Nestlé Purina is assessing damage from a grain-dust explosion that injured four contract workers at the company’s plant in Flagstaff.
Flames from welding equipment sparked the explosion Sunday, blowing out metal doors at the front of the seven-story grain elevator.
Two workers who suffered severe burns were listed in good condition Monday at a Phoenix burn center. The other two had less severe burns.
Authorities say it was the first such incident at the dog food plant in more than four decades of operation. About 250 people work at the factory.
Company spokesman Keith Schopp says a crew from the St. Louis headquarters was on site Monday surveying the damage. Production remained shuttered, but the warehouse is operating.
The Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health also is investigating.
Workers were performing repair work on the the fifth floor of the grain elevator when their welding torch ignited the mixture of grain dust and oxygen in the atmosphere, causing the explosion, fire officials said.
The explosion consumed all of the grain and oxygen in the atmosphere in the enclosed concrete and steel area so there was no ensuing fire. A blowout panel at the top of the grain elevator allowed gases to escape the building, preventing a building collapse, as a metal door at the structure’s base and two roll-up exterior doors were blown out.
Units from the Flagstaff fire department and two rural fire agencies responded to the two-alarm fire.
