Explosion at ConAgra injures five out-of-state workers

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[By Carrie Myers

Managing Editor

CHESTER?- At approximately 4:00 p.m. the Chester Fire Department was called to ConAgra in Chester for a grain bin explosion. Five out-of-state contractors were injured as a result of an explosion at the ConAgra mill in Chester on Tuesday,?April 27.

Justin Becker, Iowa and Robert Schmitdz of Minnesota were airlifted to St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis. John Jentz was flown to Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. All three men were in serious condition. Two other men were taken to Memorial Hospital in Chester with minor injuries.

All men were employees of West Side Salvage of Atkins, Iowa. The men were working at the mill cleaning out the grain bins.

According to Chester Fire Department Captain Marty Bert, firefighters arrived on the scene at approximately 4:00 p.m. and were on the scene until 11:00 p.m.

"When we arrived at the scene, ConAgra workers had already pulled the victims from the silo and had begun working on them," said Bert. "We believe it was a dust explosion; there was material burning inside the silo for 7 to 10 days prior to the explosion. Something disturbed that and the explosion occurred. The explosion damaged the silo; it lifted it up and brought it down 80%. There are 16 silos at the mill. The four front silos have dipped roofs. Due to the explosion the top of the silo had concrete pieces blown off," he added. We had a crew stay all night to monitor the situation, then the rest of the department came back at 7:00 a.m. the next morning. We were able to fill the hole up with water pulled from the Mississippi River and from a hydrant at the scene," remarked Bert.

Bert stated that Homeland Security came to the scene as general procedure. He also stated OSHA, the EPA and the State Fire Marshall all came to the scene as well.

Union Pacific was notified of the explosion and shut down trains coming through the area completely until 10:00 p.m. Once trains were permitted to use the tracks again, they were instructed to go only 15 mph when passing the area.

Area fire departments assisting Chester were Sparta, Coulterville,?Tilden and Perryville, MO. Steeleville and Ellis Grove were on standby at the Chester Fire House.

Also on the scene were the Chester Police, Randolph?County Sheriff's Department, MedStar, AirEvac, and ARCH.

"We are a small department; that's why we pulled all of our resources together," stated Bert. "We appreciate all the help and support from the local community," he added.