Published Friday, June 28, 2002
RENO, Pa. (AP) -- A fire at a propane supply company that critically injured three people and caused the evacuation of 200 residents was probably an accident, a state police fire marshal concluded.
Officials don't know yet what caused the blaze at R.N. Goss Gas Products near Oil City, but it was not deliberately started, state police Trooper Dana Beckwith wrote.
It probably started in an area where 20-pound gas grill propane tanks are refurbished, Beckwith said.
The fire started Monday night at the company in Reno, a former oil town of about 800 people along the Allegheny River.
Three employees -- Eric Graham, 26, of Franklin; Valerie Sutton, 26, of Oil City; and Mitchell Eismont, 22, of Franklin -- remained in critical condition Thursday afternoon at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. They were flown from the scene of the fire with burns over 30 to 35 percent of their bodies.
Officials from an insurance company Thursday continued to tally the cost of the damages.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is also investigating.