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Update: Explosion at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works leaves one dead, one missing, 10 hurt • Pennsylvania Capital-Star [1]
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Date: 2025-08-11 19:48:37+00:00
Rescuers were continuing to search for one missing worker at the Clairton Coke Works more than five hours after mid-morning explosions rocked the Mon Valley plant. The blasts killed one person and injured 10.
Scott Buckiso, U.S. Steel’s senior vice president and chief manufacturing officer, said at a press conference outside that the plant was “stable” as of 4 p.m. Monday and that most areas were still operating.
Explosions occurred in coke batteries 13 and 14, Buckiso said, though he declined to comment on the cause, which he said is under investigation. He said the batteries were in good condition and were not in line for upgrades. The involved batteries are now shut down, and the rest of the plant is operating normally.
County and plant officials did not immediately provide information about the worker who died or about the condition of any of the injured. Matt Brown, Allegheny County chief of emergency services, said there were initially two workers missing, but one was rescued and transported to a hospital in the afternoon.
He said the county police, the fire marshal and ATF are in the early stages of investigating the cause of the blast.
Breathe Project’s Breathe Cam captured the resulting plume.
“Our focus right now is just continuing our search for one unaccounted person,” Brown said.
Buckiso said, “We think we know the general location of that employee but we’re not 100% sure.”
Area residents were instructed to take precautionary measures.
The Allegheny County Health Department in a release asked residents within a mile of the plant to stay inside, “close all windows and doors, set HVAC systems to recirculate, and avoid activities that draw in outside air, such as using exhaust fans.” Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato said in the late afternoon press conference that the department has not detected increased PM2.5 or sulfur dioxide emissions.
Nonetheless, knowledgeable observers drew comparisons to a 2018 fire at the plant that knocked out pollution control equipment for weeks, sending harmful emissions into nearby communities and prompting public outcry over air quality and oversight.
Morning explosion brings massive response
Allegheny County Emergency Services said a fire started around 10:50 a.m. at the plant about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh, considered the largest coking operation in North America.
“It was loud. Like ‘BANG!’ At first I thought it was a train because right after my back yard is the train tracks,” said nearby resident William Pearce of the explosion that shook his house. He looked outside and saw black smoke coming from the coke works.
Brown said 20 EMS agencies and 14 fire departments responded to the explosion alongside the Coke Works’ internal fire and medical responders.
At the scene, Clairton Mayor Richard Lattanzi told assembled reporters: “My heart goes out to everyone. These things are not supposed to happen and unfortunately they do happen from time to time.”
UPMC confirmed that two people were sent to UPMC Mercy, the region’s only level one trauma and burn center.
Allegheny Health Network hospitals received a total of seven patients. AHN Jefferson Hospital was treating five patients, who were discharged by late afternoon, while AHN Allegheny General Hospital and AHN Forbes Hospital are each treating one patient.
Company, state, federal officials react to explosion
U.S. Steel President and CEO David Burritt wrote in a statement that the nearly 1,300 employees of the plant perform their work “with the utmost safety” and that the company is working with authorities to investigate the cause of the explosion.
“Our hearts go out to our employees,” Buckiso said. ” … Obviously this is a tragedy that we want to understand.”
He said the company is offering an employee assistance program at a local union hall for any employees who want to “stop in and talk.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro posted on social media that the state “is in touch with local officials” as they respond to the blast. He noted that the state police and Emergency Management Agency are offering assistance to first responders, noting that the scene is still active and “folks nearby should follow the direction of local authorities.”
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick wrote on social media that he was “monitoring this closely as additional details become available,” and joining his wife in “praying for all those endangered and their families.”
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, who hails from Braddock, in interviews on the scene called the event “just absolutely tragic and I grieve for these families. And again I’m proud to stand with the steelworkers and be sure we do anything possible after this terrible tragedy.
“It just reminds people of how dangerous of a job that this is. … To me, it reminds me of that huge fire that happened Christmas Eve five to six years ago, and they were able to bounce back and in record time.”
Fetterman later visited the plant and emerged reporting a grim mood inside. “You can’t shut the plant down, people need to keep working while knowing what happened … to their coworkers.”
2018 fire and aftermath
The fire in 2018 was driven by maintenance failures that were later characterized, in legal proceedings, as endemic.
According to internal company documents uncovered in a lawsuit, the Christmas Eve fire Fetterman referenced was not an unexpected or isolated incident but the result of years of cutbacks on maintenance and repairs in a plant that is designed with little margin for error. The fire itself was a kind of tragedy of errors, with multiple equipment failures cascading into a football field-sized fireball that lasted for two hours and put the nearby communities at risk for months afterward.
The fire knocked pollution control equipment offline. According to a study published in 2021, the number of visits to doctor’s offices and emergency rooms for asthma nearly doubled in the ZIP code that includes Clairton during the time that the company’s pollution controls were down.
Stay indoors — but for how long?
Dr. Deb Gentile, of Community Partners in Asthma Care, in Pittsburgh, said area residents should:
Stay indoors, with windows closed and air recirculating within, rather than blowing in from outside
Take any medications as prescribed
Be particularly alert if they have underlying heart or lung conditions, as any surge in pollutants could cause immediate breathing problems, and in some people could raise the short-term risk of heart attack or stroke
Call their doctor, or call for an ambulance, if warranted.
For how long? “That’s going to really depend on what the facility does and where the damage occurred,” said Gentile. Immediately following the 2018 fire, there were multiple exceedances of emission limits with documentable health effects, she said. “We certainly don’t want to be seeing continued release of pollutants into the air, seeing what happened last time.”
Though the county has not detected pollution levels above federal limits today, Gentile noted that the nearest monitor is in Liberty, while many people live closer to the plant.
Emissions also have chronic effects. Gentile said around 20% of Clairton-area kids have been diagnosed with asthma, and some neighborhoods have reported that around half of youth carry inhalers.
An old plant with new ownership
The Coke Works is part of the Downtown-based steel company’s trio of local industrial facilities, which also includes the Edgar Thomson Works centered in Braddock, and the Irvin Works in West Mifflin.
It is also a major source of emissions and scene of much county pollution control enforcement activity.
Breathe Project has said that the Clairton plant, built in 1901, raises cancer risk for county residents, notably including the 130,000 who it says live within a 5-mile radius. Pledged billion-dollar upgrades have been postponed, even amid millions of dollars in fines.
Breathe Project expressed concern that collapsed building materials could be kicking up “hazardous air pollutants, including asbestos, heavy metals and possibly benzene.” The group tallies $64 million in fines and enforcement actions related to air pollution since 2020 at U.S. Steel’s three local facilities.
In February, a problem with a battery at the plant led to a “buildup of combustible material” that ignited, causing an audible “boom,” the Allegheny County Health Department said. Two workers who got material in their eyes received first aid treatment at a local hospital but were not seriously injured.
In recent years, the Clairton plant has been dogged by concerns about pollution. In 2019, it agreed to settle a 2017 lawsuit for $8.5 million. Under the settlement, the company agreed to spend $6.5 million to reduce soot emissions and noxious odors from the Clairton coke-making facility.
The company also faced other lawsuits over pollution from the Clairton facility, including ones accusing the company of violating clean air laws after the December 2018 fire damaged the plant’s sulfur pollution controls.
Charlie Wolfson is the local government reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He can be reached at [email protected].
The Associated Press contributed.
Explore in-depth stories about Clairton Coke Works, air quality and the impact on local communities:
Trump talks up U.S. Steel deal in Mon Valley as Pittsburgh-area towns laud jobs, await details on upgrades (May 2025)
Funds start to flow to communities from $4.5 million Clairton Coke Works fire settlement (February 2025)
Mon Valley residents, stakeholders to weigh in on $4.5 million U.S. Steel settlement (September 2024)
The Mon Valley holds its breath as the latest U.S. Steel settlement promises a fresh approach (February 2024)
An asthma attack gave me a mission: Provide people in the Mon Valley with the tools to survive (March 2024)
The City of Prayer: Clairton’s residents persevere amid persistent pollution and violence (November 2021)
A tragedy of errors: A series of maintenance failures led to the 2018 fire at the Clairton Coke Works (November 2021)
U.S. Steel faces lawsuit alleging that Clairton Coke Works ‘decrepit’ condition continues to endanger Mon Valley residents (November 2021)
‘Today is a difficult day.’ U.S. Steel announces closure of several of Clairton’s ‘dirtiest’ coke oven batteries (April 2021)
A decade of cleaner air ended in controversy and questions about Allegheny County’s future (January 2020)
Family history, loss and hopes for a bright future fuel my fight for clean air in Clairton (January 2020)
Residents, officials push for answers from U.S. Steel and Allegheny County about response to Clairton Coke Works fire (January 2019)
A tale of two fires: Allegheny County health officials change approach after second fire at U.S. Steel’s Clairton plant (June 2019)
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