2023 Pennsylvania chocolate factory explosion

2023 Pennsylvania chocolate factory explosion

Date	March 24, 2023 (2023-03-24)
Time	4:57 p.m. (Eastern time zone)
Location	West Reading, Pennsylvania, United States
Coordinates	40°20′04″N 75°56′31″W
Type	Natural gas pipe leak and explosion
Deaths	7
Non-fatal injuries	10

On March 24, 2023, an explosion occurred at a chocolate factory operated by the R.M. Palmer Company in West Reading, Pennsylvania. Seven people died and ten were injured, including one rescued from the rubble. At around 4:57 p.m (EST), it sent plumes of smoke into the air and shook houses. The cause of the explosion has been determined to be a natural-gas fueled explosion and fire.

Background

The R.M. Palmer Company was originally founded in 1948 by Richard M. Palmer, Sr., in the borough of Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania on a $25 thousand investment (around $245 thousand today). The company had four employees and four products: Baby Binks, Bunny Binks, Daddy Binks, and Hen & Egg. The Baby Binks were an instant success, leading to the 25 cent store chain making a $20,000 order for Easter, which propelled the company off the ground.

In 1950, the company relocated to 237 North 11th Street in Reading, Pennsylvania. The company later built the factory complex located in West Reading, Pennsylvania, sometime during the 1950s, which has since became their main headquarters. The R.M Palmer Company then proceeded to introduce Christmas and Valentine's Day in the 1960s and 1970s respectively, however, Easter products remained the company's predominant items, with it selling 30 to 40 of them annually. By 1985, the company employed 600 people and produced 200 items, which now included Halloween-themed candy. By the early 1990s, construction commenced on a 165,000 square feet (15,300 m²) distribution center in Exeter Township, Pennsylvania.

The new millennium saw the distribution center be expanded to a size of ten football fields. In 2009, the company was named one of the top 100 Global Confectionary Companies by the American Registry. Today, it employs up to 850 full-time and temporary employees at its facilities and produced 500 unique products.

Explosion

At 4:30 PM (EST), workers at R.M. Palmer building #2 detected the smell of natural gas. They promptly reported to their supervisor, who informed them that a decision to evacuate would have to be made by a higher-up. The employees then returned to work.

The explosion started just before 5:00 (EST) on March 24, 2023. It destroyed building #2, while damaging the main building. The explosion contained so much force that it physically moved one of the buildings back by four feet. After the explosion, damage from it resulted in the leak of gas that began to further fuel the ensuing fires.

Reports made from Berks County, the county where West Reading is located, to Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency included a reference to a gas leak, possibly suggesting that the incident was instigated by a leak of gas. Local authorities, however, have indicated that the official cause is unknown. Officials are still investigating the cause. The National Transportation Safety Board has characterized it as a gas explosion, and is examining a natural gas pipeline for fractures and any other sort of damage. A preliminary report was issued on May 2, 2023. A final report could take up to two years to be released.

Seven people, including 60-year-old Domingo Cruz, 49-year-old Amy Sandoe, 30-year-old Xiorky Nunez, 63-year-old Susan Halvonik, 62-year-old Michael Breedy, 44-year-old Diana Cedeno, and 55-year-old Judith Lopez-Moran, were killed. Eight people were also reported to have been sent to Reading Hospital to be treated for their injuries, where one person had been transferred and two were in fair condition, while the others had been released.

On March 25, one person had been pulled out of the rubble. Later, the victim, Mexican-American Patricia Borges, stated that she and employees had alerted their supervisor half an hour prior to the eventual explosion, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. When the explosion occurred, she was shaken off a ladder and proceeded to attempt to flee, before the floor gave in and she splashed into a horizontal chocolate vat in the factory's basement. She screamed for help as the vat began to fill with water from firefighter's hoses. Crews eventually discovered her after search dogs indicated that there may have been a survivor.

Responses

The following morning, state officials disputed the death toll; initial reports said five died, and later two. Police chief Wayne Holben said the explosion was not dangerous to the immediate surrounding area, but police had cleared the scene of people.

Company

On the afternoon of March 25, 2023, the R.M. Palmer Company provided the following statement:

"Everyone at RM Palmer is devastated by the tragic events at one of our West Reading facilities and we are focused on supporting our employees and their families. We have lost close friends and colleagues, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of all who have been impacted. We are sincerely grateful for the extraordinary efforts of all of the first responders and for the support of our Reading community, which has been home to our business for more than 70 years. We will continue to coordinate closely with local and national agencies to assist in the recovery process.
We are anxious to be in touch with all employees and the families of employees who have been impacted, but the company's email, phones, and other communication systems are down, and therefore we are relying currently on first responders and disaster recovery organizations to provide any available information to impacted families. We will be providing additional information and making contact with employees, impacted families, and the community as soon as possible."

— R.M. Palmer Company

The Hershey Company, a leading competitor in the candy industry, also sent a message of support to Palmer:

Our deepest condolences are with the families and loved ones, partners and fellow candy makers at the R.M. Palmer Company. We are heartbroken for them as well as the community of West Reading.
Thank you to the first responders and their dedicated work, and know that we are here to offer comfort and support to all.

— The Hershey Company

Government

The Berks County government responded by stating that the county was expressing its deepest sympathy, and is committed to supporting the community affected by the disaster. The county also urged the community to rally together and spread support to the surrounding West Reading area.

Judy Schwank, a Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, representing the state's 11th District, was said to be "deeply devastated" from what occurred, noting "This is an extremely difficult situation", and that it was unlike anything that the county had dealt with in recent memory. She also applauded the community's response, and followed by saying "I will continue to follow the situation and do everything in my power to ensure all state emergency response resources are available."

Lawsuits

On March 27, 2023, a neighbor named Betty Wright filed a lawsuit against R.M. Palmer for criminal negligence and recklessness and seeking for $50,000 due to physical and emotional suffering. She claimed to have suffered cervical, lumbar, hip and leg injuries, as well as wage loss and loss of property.

On April 11, 2023, the family of Judith “Judy” Lopez-Moran, a 55-year-old mother of three, filed what their lawyers called the first wrongful-death suit against R.M. Palmer Co. after the March 24 blast in West Reading. Workers smelled natural gas that day and notified Palmer, but the 75-year-old, family-owned company “did nothing,” the lawsuit said. "The gas leak at the factory and the horrific explosion it caused was foreseeable, predictable, and preventable,” the suit said. “Tragically, Judith Lopez-Moran’s death and suffering were preventable.” The lawsuit, filed in Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, also names gas utility UGI as a defendant.

NTSB findings

Cascading failures involving a corroded steam pipe and a defective natural gas fitting caused the powerful explosion, killing seven workers when the company failed to evacuate, a federal safety board said on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. The National Transportation Safety Board said the factory failed to have natural gas emergency procedures in place that could have resulted in an immediate evacuation. “Contributing to the accident's severity was R.M. Palmer Company's insufficient emergency response procedures and training of its employees, who did not understand the hazard and did not evacuate the buildings before the explosion,” the National Transportation Safety Board said in its statement of probable cause, approved Tuesday at the board's meeting in Washington, D.C.

The federal safety agency also described the role of UGI Corp., the gas utility that provided service to the candy factory in West Reading. An old Palmer steam pipe that was already badly corroded finally cracked, allowing steam to escape and raising the temperature of UGI's gas fitting — so much so that it, too, cracked, federal safety investigators found. Gas then migrated underground and made its way into the basement of Palmer’s second building, where it exploded. Investigators couldn’t determine the ignition source.

A UGI crew replacing gas lines in the area in 2021 — two years before the blast — was alerted to the presence of the steam pipe but failed to notify the utility's safety managers so the pipe could be assessed for its impact on the gas fitting that ultimately failed, the five-member safety board found. “By not addressing the threat posed by the steam pipe, UGI Corporation's distribution integrity management program was not effective in preventing the accident,” the safety board said in its findings. The board also said there was a delay in getting gas shut off after the blast because UGI did not properly mark its valves — and a critical valve had been paved over. UGI said it is reviewing the findings.

The service tee that failed was made by DuPont and has a known tendency to crack. The plastic piping is still in widespread use around the country, but the safety board said many utilities may not be aware of the locations where it is most vulnerable to failure from elevated temperatures. UGI had a chance to remediate the faulty tee during the 2021 pipeline replacement project but did not do so, board investigators said. “They knew that this was dangerous, brittle piping for decades. It should have been remediated,” said Andrew Duffy, an attorney representing explosion victims in a civil suit. “It's a shocking failure in an industry whose sole responsibility is to transport gas through pipelines safely.”