One person was killed Monday morning and nine were hospitalized after a series of explosions at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, the nation’s largest coke manufacturing facility.
As of mid-afternoon, two people remained unaccounted for and their status was unknown as authorities combed the blast site for signs of life.
Police urged the public to avoid the area.
The first explosion occurred around 10:47 a.m., according to video recorded by the Breathe Project, a clean-air group whose cameras captured an enormous plume of black smoke billowing skyward.
U.S. Steel said it occurred at coke over batteries 13 and 14, triggering an immediate response from emergency teams.
The blast spurred an initial call to 911 at 10:51 a.m., according to Abigail Gardner, a spokesperson for Allegheny County.
She said there were two smaller explosions around noon.
Details remained murky several hours after the blast, but Gardner told TribLive, “It is a search-and-rescue operation.”
She declined to elaborate.
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato posted on social media that she was headed to the plant to meet with first responders.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., arrived at the facility around 12:40 p.m. and told reporters he understood there was one person who had not been found yet.
“This is my understanding, that there’s one person that’s unaccountable right now after what happened, the explosion,” Fetterman said.
“Without a doubt this is tragic what happened, and I don’t know what kind of damage occurred to the facility…”
Clairton Mayor Rich Lattanzi told TribLive he was on the site and talking with steel workers.
“I’m shaking their hands as they’re walking by,” he said.
Lattanzi said workers are reporting to other portions of the facility, but the area damaged in the blast is not operational.
The explosion, Lattanzi said, was reported in near Battery 14 and seems to have impacted batteries 13, 14 and 15.
“This is going to take a long time for the investigation to come out,” the mayor said. “This investigation’s ongoing. Not everybody’s accounted for, so this is going to last until everybody’s accounted for. Everybody’s diligently working.”
Kasey Reigner, a spokesperson for Allegheny County’s emergency services, said, “We had dozens of walking and wounded. There were some transports. I’m still working on getting all the details.”
Bill Farrier, president of the United Steelworker local in Clairton, said he wasn’t ready to give interviews.
“We had an explosion. We’re just worried about our people,” Farrier said.
‘Black smoke everywhere’
Mariah Carpenter, 19, of Clairton said she lives nearby and felt the blast.
“All I heard was ‘ka-boom!’ and our house was shaking, shaking like it was an earthquake,” Carpenter told TribLive.
Deanna Forkey was working inside the deli and sandwich shop she manages near the coke works when the explosion went off.
“I heard the bang — it popped our door open,” said Forkey, 32, of Clairton. “When I looked up, all I saw was black smoke everywhere.”
Forkey has seen black smoke rise at the coke works in the two years she’s managed Hometown Burgers & Deli, which sits on Maple Avenue near an entrance to the plant.
This time was different, she said.
“The amount of black smoke? I could tell it was not normal,” she said. “It was definitely (an incident) where you go, ‘There’s something wrong.’”
Randy McCain was working inside a Clairton Coke Works control room at the time of the explosion.
He said the blast was loud but people remained calm in his area.
“There’s just a lot of emergency vehicles, a lot of emergency personnel, said McCain, 48, of Uniontown.
McCain finished a double shift — 16 hours of work — at 1 pm Monday. He was set to return to work for his next shift around 8 pm.
John LaBarbara called his father, a maintenance worker and 30-year veteran of the coke works, as soon as he heard about the explosion.
“My dad’s in there. He was supposed to be in (batteries) 13/14 today, where it exploded,” LaBarbara, 19, of Elizabeth Township told TribLive.
He said his father was safe.
First responders from multiple counties responded to the first blast.
Seven of the injured were taken to Allegheny Health Network facilities while two went to UPMC Mercy in Pittsburgh.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro posted on X shortly before noon that his administration was in touch with local officials in Clairton “as they respond to an explosion” at the coke works.
“The scene is still active, and folks nearby should follow the direction of local authorities,” Shapiro wrote, adding a request for people to join him and his wife, Lori, in praying for the Clairton community.
Allegheny Health Network said five patients were being treated at Jefferson Hospital in Jefferson Hills, one was at Forbes Hospital in Monroeville and one at Allegheny General Hospital on Pittsburgh’s North Side.
UPMC confirmed it is treating two patients at UPMC Mercy in Pittsburgh’s Bluff section.
It is the region’s only level one trauma and burn center.
Emergency crews were called to the facility, on the 400 block of State Street in Clairton, shortly after 11 a.m.
A Westmoreland County 911 supervisor said Allegheny County officials have requested additional medic trucks to respond to the incident.
People on scene reported seeing two helicopters departing from the site.
No smoke or fire was visible on site around noon.
U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt issued a statement more than four hours after the explosion.
“Our top priority is the safety and wellbeing of our employees and the environment,” Burritt said. “We are working closely with relevant authorities to investigate the cause of the incident and will provide additional updates as they become available.”
We are working closely with relevant authorities to investigate the cause of the incident and will provide additional updates as they become available.
The United Steelworkers union said it has a team en route to the plant.
“The USW has occupational health and safety experts and other representatives on the ground at the Clairton Works assessing the situation and aiding our members,” according to a statement from the union’s USW District 10 Director Bernie Hall.
“While we are still determining the scope of the tragedy, we are aware that multiple workers are receiving medical treatment for their injuries. In the coming days, we will work with the appropriate authorities to ensure a thorough investigation and to see that our members get the support they need.”
Monitoring air quality
Officials from the county health department are monitoring air quality and recommended “out of an abundance of caution” that those living within a mile of the plant remain inside, close their windows and doors, set their HVAC system to recirculate and refrain from drawing in outside air, such as by using exhaust fans.
The health department said air monitors have not detected emissions of certain compounds above federal standards.
A representative for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which monitors workplace safety, confirmed it was aware of the incident and is “looking further” into it.
At the scene, at least a dozen marked emergency vehicles were near the State Street plant around 12:30 p.m.
First responders in yellow vests clustered around a gate leading to the 392-acre property along the Monongahela River.
A group of women gathered at a Speedway gas station at the corner of State Street and Maple Avenue around noon. They said they quickly called those they knew inside the plant after the explosion.
Dave Evans, a Monessen volunteer firefighter, arrived at the coke works around 1:50 pm with pallets of water and Gatorade — 2,500 bottles of water alone.
“There’s a lot of guys back there,” said Evans, 53, of Monessen. “This is for the first responders, for anybody.”
The Clairton Coke Works is one of four facilities that make up U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, along with the Edgar Thomson Plant, Irvin Plant and Fairless Plant.
Situated on the west bank of the Monongahela River about 20 miles from Pittsburgh, the Clairton plant is the largest coke manufacturing facility in the nation, according to U.S. Steel.
It operates 10 coke oven batteries and produces about 4.3 million tons of coke each year, according to the company.
As the only remaining U.S. Steel coke-producing plant in the country, the Clairton facility employed about 1,400 people as of 2023, according to a U.S. Steel report.
St. Clair Steel Company built the facility in 1901. U.S. Steel purchased it in 1904.
Staff writer Patrick Varine contributed to this report.