What triggered explosion that killed Waconia teen?

A cell phone or a portable radio are among possible triggers for a deadly propane explosion that killed a Waconia High School student, authorities said Thursday.

Ryan John Samuelson, 18, of Cologne, an employee of Waconia Farm and Home Supply, was killed in an explosion Wednesday after he took a 100-pound propane tank into a filling shed. The business was severely damaged in the blast and fire that followed.

The possibility that a cell phone or portable radio sparked the blast "are all things we are looking at; those are all questions we are asking," Carver County Sheriff Bud Olson said. "We are looking at everything. There has to have been an ignition source."

Olson made his comments as sheriff's investigators, along with representatives from state and federal safety and regulatory agencies, spent the day sifting through debris from the blast.

Samuelson, who would have been a senior at Waconia High School in the fall, had just taken the tank to a shed to fill it up when the propane exploded.

"Ryan was a nice, easygoing kid," said Mark Frederickson, the school's principal. "Ryan had a close circle of friends and they are really hurting."

Frederickson said the school will have grief counselors available between 10 a.m. and noon today for students wanting to talk about Samuelson's death.

"There are some really sad people here," said Frederickson. "The people who had Ryan in their class are really sad right now."

The Waconia business is among about 1,000 sites around the state that dispenses propane, according to the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

Investigators said Thursday that explosions such as the one that killed Samuelson are rare, given the thousands of times that propane tanks are filled.

"It's safer than filling up your car with gas," said Mike Loscheider, general manager of Waconia Farm Supply.

Olson said investigators have video of the scene leading up to the explosion, and nothing seems out of place.

Shortly before 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, a man from Watertown, Minn., and his 14-year-old son brought in a 100-pound propane tank to be refilled, giving the tank to Samuelson, who Loscheider said was trained for the job.

"We take training very seriously," said Loscheider, who said only employees trained to handle and dispense propane safely are allowed to do so.

Samuelson took the 100-pound tank into a shed adjacent to a 1,000-pound propane dispensing tank, which is used to refill private propane tanks.

"It's something we do hundreds of times a week," Loscheider said Thursday as he watched investigators sift through what was left of the shack.

Olson said Samuelson took the tank into the shack and was inside "for moments" before the explosion.

Elizabeth Skalnek, chief engineer with the Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety, said one of the biggest dangers with propane is that it is heavier than air and thus can pool at low points, even in enclosed areas with ventilation. She said if there is a leak or an accumulation, something as innocuous as a spark from striking metal or even a cell phone ringing in the area might be enough to set off an explosion.

She said her agency's inspectors are ordered not to take cell phones or other electrical devices into areas where propane is present.

Olson and others said the shack into which Samuelson went had open windows and was well vented. Loscheider, the general manager, said the door also was open. "There was no pooling," he said. "The building was open."

If that is the case, then the gas accumulation happened after Samuelson entered the shack, which is leading investigators to look at the tank that he took in to fill.

An investigator with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, which oversees hazardous materials such as propane, said investigators will look into whether the tank Samuelson was handling malfunctioned in some way.

He said the tanks are supposed to meet federal safety standards and also be tested and checked regularly to make sure they do not leak.

Could have been worse

The explosion inside the shack sent shrapnel flying hundreds of yards, damaging the store and cars parked in the company lot.

The debris punctured the 1,000-pound tank and the leaking propane fueled a fire that broke out on the south side of the store, Olson said.

The 14-year-old boy whose father brought in the tank suffered burns to his arms. Olson said he was sitting in the passenger side of his truck about 30 feet from the blast.

The truck, which was damaged, probably saved his life or kept him from more serious injuries, Olson said. The boy was treated and released from Ridgeview Medical Center Wednesday evening.

"He was very lucky," Olson said. "He was very fortunate he wasn't more hurt."

There were dozens of employees inside the store and a few people milling about the parking lot, some of whom witnessed the explosion.

In fact, Olson said it was remarkable that more people weren't killed or injured, given how much propane was in the area and how much shrapnel shot through the area.

"We're sad there was a fatality," Olson said. "But we are blessed that there were not more. If someone had been walking through there [the shrapnel] would have gone through them like bullets."

Heron Marquez Estrada • 612-673-4280