State fire marshal and ODNR investigating cause of well pad explosion in Guernsey County

GUERNSEY COUNTY − Residents in all but two homes had returned to their homes on Friday after households between Winterset and Antrim were evacuated following an explosion at a Gulfport Appalachia oil pad. It was know as the Groh Pad, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

An evacuation order from the Guernsey County EMA was enacted at around 5:30 p.m. Jan. 2 for a half-mile radius around 19669 Cadiz Road (U.S. 22), southwest of Antrim. It was lifted at 12:15 p.m. Jan. 3 after a thermal-scanning drone sweep.

"There was an explosion. When we arrived on scene approximately three minutes after the initial dispatch, there was a tank that was on fire, and it appeared to have suffered the explosion," noted Donald Warnock, fire chief of the Antrim Volunteer Fire Department.

"We allowed it to burn and cool itself down as it ran out of fuel. At this point, the fire is out," Warnock confirmed. "According to thermal scans, we were not able to see anything with an elevated temperature that would indicate a fire.

"Now, they're going to get personnel up close to the pad and do the meter readings to see if there's anything off-gassing, which we do not believe there is," he said. "We have not been able to determine that there has been any release from the pad."

Investigating parties, like the Ohio State Fire Marshal and ODNR, were still looking for the cause of the explosion. "We do not know the cause," Warnock said. "We will not speculate on anything. This pad was unoccupied and has not sustained any work recently.

"There are many, many, many things that could happen," he noted. "You have equipment failure. You have human error. You have natural conditions. There's a litany of reasons for anything to happen. There's no indication that this would be anything other but an accident," he continued.

"One of the things that is being done is air testing," he added "The company that's on site is actually on their way there now to monitor the pad to see if there's any vapor releases," he said Friday afternoon. "We do not believe there is. We've only been probably within 150 to 200 feet of where the actual incident occurred on the pad. In that area, there was nothing."

No injuries were reported and Warnock only mentioned light property damage to some of the nearest residential properties. Residents between Winterset and Antrim were given the go-ahead to return to their homes. He believes there may be damage to the two properties closest to the pad, but that's not been confirmed. The evacuation order is still in effect for residents of those properties.

"The last two homes were within a 1,000-1,5000 feet radius of the oil pad, but they had been notified of the situation," Warnock noted. "We have spoken directly to the property owners of those two residences, and they are waiting for the finalization of this pad work. We will notify them as the companies have determined that they don't feel there's any more danger from anything residual that's left over."

ODNR is investigating the scene and will perform soil testing, Warnock added. "After rainfalls, and such, they will continue to monitor that area. If they find anything, they will get ahold of the operator, and they'll bring in a cleanup crew and start their process again."

Aid at the pad fire was provided by approximately 30 first responders from the Antrim, Old Washington, Lore City, Fairview, and Liberty volunteer fire departments, Guernsey County EMA,Guernsey County Sheriff's Office and their aviation unit, Ohio EMA, ODNR and oil and gas personnel.

Shawn Digity is a reporter for the Zanesville Times Recorder. He can be emailed at [email protected] or found on X at @ShawnDigityZTR.

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: State agencies seek cause of Guernsey County oil pad explosion