County says boiler was being operated illegally

Friday, Jan. 9, 1998 | 9:27 a.m.

Six people were injured and four others are feared death from the blast at the explosives plant 12 miles east of Reno.

A company spokeswoman, however, maintained that the boiler had been operating legally.

"It was properly permitted," Sierra Chemical spokeswoman Tova Roseman told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "It was not out of line to be in existence before the final inspection by the building department."

Building officials disagreed.

"Why else would you need an inspection?" asked Washoe County building official Jess Traver.

Traver said a building inspector and county fire marshal were to have re-inspected the explosives plant on Friday, two days after two powerful explosions reduced the complex to rubble.

It is unknown, however, if the boiler fueled by propane caused the explosions.

Traver said inspector Eric Josephson visited the plant on Dec. 12 after being notified by company officials that the boiler was ready for inspection.

Traver and county spokeswoman Mary Henderson said another inspection was scheduled with fire officials after Josephson found safety violations. Among others things, Josephson noted problems with fire walls and wanted electrical wiring to be checked, Traver said.

"We were going to check the entire facility with Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District," Traver said.

He added that pressure and other tests on the boiler had not been done. "Those things needed to happen," he said.

Because an inspector had not signed off on the boiler, it should never have been put into operation, Traver said.

"They can't turn that on. It would be against the law."

Roseman said the boiler had been approved for use by the design engineer, Joe Beard.

On the day of the explosion, Beard faxed a statement to county inspectors, asserting that the boiler system "met or exceeded requirements of the building code for safey and operation," the Gazette-Journal reported.

In the statement, Beard also wrote, "You have my assurance that the system would have passed muster and been issued an operating permit."

But Traver said two other state inspections would have been required before the boiler was approved for operation.

"There are a hundred things that could have gone wrong," he said.