The explosion of a mobile home in Damascus, Oregon has raised numerous questions, even as seven families struggle with its aftermath, according to The Oregonian. The newspaper reports that the families are currently being helped by the Red Cross.
Their homes were damaged after a nearby mobile home exploded for reasons that remain unclear. According to the newspaper “the blast damaged a water main that serves about 30 people who live in the mobile home development.” Investigators have ruled out a natural gas leak as the cause of the Oregon explosion, but have few answers beyond that.
“At this point, you can’t rule anything out,” a Clackamas Fire District spokesman told The Oregonian. “There are still all kinds of possibilities – and combinations of possibilities – so we don’t want to speculate.” What is certain is that the damage caused by this catastrophic accident will disrupt many lives for some time to come. The inside of the mobile home that exploded was unoccupied, but a man who was sitting on the unit’s porch was badly burned.
From a Portland injury lawyer’s perspective, it is especially important that the authorities have all the time they need to investigate incidents like this – a thorough investigation can do much to determine the cause of the Oregon explosion, and to examine whether its cause can be traced to an industrial accident or some other form of negligence. It is important to remember that maintaining industrial equipment is an owner’s responsibility, and that manufacturers must also provide products that are safe as well as instructions for their appropriate use. For now, however, only when we really know what happened in that Damascus, Oregon mobile home park can we begin to consider the best ways to keep anything similar from ever happening again.
The Oregonian: Cause of mobile home explosion near Damascus still unclear