GATESVILLE, Texas — The Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office released on Monday the Coryell Memorial Hospital Fire Investigation Report following an explosion in June that left three people dead and 15 others injured.
According to the report, investigators found no evidence that the explosion at the Gatesville hospital was intentional.
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The 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.
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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.
Coryell Memorial Hospital explosion
According to the report, the explosion appeared to have started in the boiler room, but the majority of force was generated in the south end of the mechanical room, the report said. The entire roof over the mechanical room, boiler room, and electrical room were destroyed, according to the report.
The report said the Texas Task Force One had to reinforce the boiler room and the mechanical room before investigators could enter.
The mechanical room had moderate fire damage and severe explosion damage, with fire damage being most severe around chiller pumps the report said.
The mother of Maricela Dimas, a man killed in the explosion, filed a $1 million lawsuit against Atmos Energy Corporation, Lochridge-Priest, Inc. and Johnson Controls, Inc. in October claiming negligence.
At the time the suit was filed, it included acknowledgment that the investigation into the blast was ongoing and that additional information will "surely be uncovered that may and probably will necessitate further, additional and/or different allegations, including the potential of adding additional parties to the case or dismissing parties from the case."
Michael Bruggman and Filiberto Morales were also killed in the explosion.