Two hurt when irrigation pipe blows

May 11, 2007

Peninsula News Network

Sequim, WA - Two people were hurt Friday morning when an irrigation pipe in the Sequim Valley exploded right in their face.

The accident happened around 11am off Hogback Road adjacent to the Dungeness Greens housing development as two people were working on one of the new underground irrigation pipes. Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Dick, who was among those first on the scene, says it appears the man and woman were apparently conducting an inspection of the line when the accident happened.

Dick says the workers were in the process of removing a lid to a valve to check pressure on the line when the valve literally blew, with one of them being struck by the heavy plastic lid.

Clallam County Fire District 3 crews rushed to the scene to aid the injured workers as a huge jet of water shot a hundred feet into the air.

Neighbor Pat Whittaker was working outside in her yard next yard when the pipe blew, and said it sounded like dynamite going off.

Both persons were taken to Olympic Memorial Hospital by ambulance, although authorities had no update on their condition. It didn’t appear that the injuries had been life-threatening.

Because the case is an industrial accident, the follow up investigation will be handled by the State Department of Labor and Industries.

The line was one of several in the area that have recently been put underground to replace open water ditches that serve the Sequim Valley.