Middletown to mark anniversary of power plant explosion

MIDDLETOWN — Members of the Connecticut AFL-CIO Health & Safety Committee will hold this year’s memorial service this weekend to honor the six workers who died in the Kleen Energy power plant explosion a decade ago.

Friday will mark 10 years since the deadly blast, which happened Feb. 7, 2010, at the River Road facility at about 11:15 a.m. Initially, five workers were killed and dozens more hurt on Super Bowl Sunday. One additional worker later died from his injuries.

The remembrance will be held Sunday at 11 a.m. at the memorial just outside the plant at 1349 River Road, Middletown.

On February 7, 2010, the Kleen Energy power plant exploded in Middletown at 11:17 a.m. near the Connecticut River. The incident could be heard in other states, including New York, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The victims were Ronald Crabb, 42, of Colchester; Peter Chepulis, 48, of Thomaston; Raymond E. Dobratz Jr., 58, of Old Saybrook; Kenneth Haskell, 37, of New Durham, N.H.; Chris Walters, 48, of Florissant, Mo.; and Roy Rushton, 36, of Hamilton, Ontario.

All died after a welding torch ignited natural gas pooled on the ground at the construction site near the pipe outlets.

The plant reopened for business in July 2011.

Speakers will include U.S. Reps. Joe Courtney, D-2; and Rosa DeLauro, D-3; Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, Middletown Mayor Ben Florsheim, Connecticut Building Trades President Dave Roche, IUOE Local 478 Health & Safety Director

Kyle Zimmer, and Connecticut AFL-CIO Health & Safety Committee member Ron McLellan, according to a release.

Retired Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 777 member Paul Venti will serve as master of ceremonies. Some of the families of the deceased workers are expected to attend the remembrance, the release said.

Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 21 out of New York will bring along bagpipers and drummers, and members of the Middletown Fire Department / IAFF Local 1073 will serve as color guard.

This year’s event was moved to the weekend to make the observance more worker-friendly, Venti said. It will be held rain or shine.

Venti urges people to attend in order to “help keep our fallen brothers’ legacy alive.”

“On that Sunday morning, my garage door rattled. Understand how much gas had to come out to explode, uncompressed, other than by the atmosphere, to shatter foundations across the river,” John W. Olsen, a former president of AFL-CIO, who lives about 25 miles away from the plant, said during last year’s observance.

“Why did it take that long to understand we couldn’t do those kinds of things?” he asked rhetorically.

Hearst Connecticut Media file photo An aerial view of the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown the day after a massive explosion rocked the site on Feb. 7, 2010, killing six workers. The explosion registered 5.0 on the Richter scale, according to the United States Geological Survey website and was felt as far away as New York.