Todd Fiscal Court on Friday morning heard an update on the January 18 explosion in Guthrie that killed two people and injured three others.
As previously reported, the fatality victims were identified as 21-year old Alex Wix of Westmoreland, Tennessee and 35-year old Bryan Bonilla of Clarksville. All three people injured, including two who were taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, have now been released from the hospital.
Wix was the driver of the vacuum truck waste hauler from Onsite Environmental that was removing an alkaline lye solution for a holding tank at the Quick Turn Anodizing facility on Second Street in Guthrie shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday of last week.
Todd County Emergency Management Director Daniel Smith told magistrates that a substance that has an adverse reaction with that lye solution was introduced at some point in the tank and exactly what and how remains under investigation.
The reaction caused the tank containing approximately 300 gallons of the solution to catastrophically fail at its end cap seam. The end cap flew approximately 125 feet to the north landing in a vacant lot and the remainder of the tank went through the exterior of the building, through an interior partition and hit a support beam before finally coming to a stop about 100 feet away, just short of exiting the rear of the building.
Smith says he met with officials at Novelis in Guthrie since the explosion and they are reiterating what’s been known for some time—Todd County needs additional EMS coverage—meaning a second ambulance ready to respond, especially in the south end of the county.
He urged county government to lead other public and private employers when it comes to encouraging employees to join their local volunteer fire department and he says fiscal court should consider putting fire department dues on property tax bills as Christian County does.
Smith says the county also needs to consider upgrading its hazardous materials response capabilities and thanked the Hopkinsville Fire Department for their mutual aid at the explosion.
Hopkinsville EMS was also praised by John Holder of Com Care, who said they were among the first ambulances to arrive from another county on January 17 when a school bus overturned on January 17. He aid mutual aid agreements worked well and there were seven ambulances on the way to the scene within 12 minutes of the accident, though only three students would require a ride to the hospital.
Todd County Clerk Cindy O’Bryan says the Board of Elections went to Helen’s Home Cooking in Kirkmansville recently to see if it can serve as a polling place and while a majority of the building is ADA compliant, the bathrooms are not.
Judge-Executive Todd Mansfield asked for a report with the specifics on what the non-compliant issues are to see if the county can assist with making that location work.
