GATESVILLE, Texas — Coryell health invited the community to an open house with a preview of their $44 million health system expansion project covering 117,000 square feet.
The project follows a major explosion that killed three people and injured 15 others. The explosion appeared to have started in the the boiler room.
The fire investigation report said the explosion was caused by a gas that collected between “I beams” in the mechanical room.
A "fuel gas," which investigators said was natural gas, was in the upper portion of the room’s boiler and mechanical rooms, the report said.
According to the report, water heaters and boilers were under construction at the time of the explosion.
Investigators said the natural gas most likely came from the open water heaters valves, according to the report.
“Valves to water heaters were open, allowing natural gas to flow freely into the mechanical room,” the report said.
According to the report, plumbers said they were “bleeding air off the natural gas lines during construction.”
Investigators found an oxy-acetylene torch unit in the mechanical room and tools and a BIC lighter in the debris around the hospital, the report said. Those items, as well as cellphones and fluorescent bulbs, could have ignited the explosion, according to the report.
The expansion is set to open by the end of this year. The project includes a two story hospital, two new operating rooms, and an inpatient rehabilitation wing, in the Coryell Health Rehab Living at the Meadows, the wing is set to open in February of 2020.
The open house begins at 4:00 p.m. at the front lobby of the new hospital at 1507 West Main Street in Gatesville.
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