Company Pays For Explosive Gas Detectors Following Another Death

MEAD, Colo. (CBS4) - Investigators still are not releasing the name of the man killed in Thursday's oil tank explosion in Mead.

Oscar Lopez Velasquez, 32, was killed and three others were hurt in the blast.

A spokesperson for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation says the workers were doing facility maintenance on the battery which was not in operation. All four tanks exploded.

That fire wasn't too far from the town of Firestone where two people were killed in a home explosion last month.

On Saturday homeowners in the Oak Meadows neighborhood will receive detectors which warn of explosive gases.

The alarms are designed to go off if explosive gas is detected in a home. It's a device that could possibly have saved the two lives.

"It's definitely a hard to realize that they would still be alive and it should've been prevented and could've been prevented," homeowner Liz Kawulok said.

If people were already l on edge, the explosion and fire at a nearby oil tank battery sent even more chills through the area.

"When I heard it was not a home I was relieved, but then once we heard that people ended up being injured and later in the evening we heard of a fatality, then things changed," said Frank Jimenez, HOA Vice President.

Added to that, an inspection drive through the neighborhood revealed another pocket of methane gas just down the block from where the explosion occurred. It is now being vented to prevent another possible explosion.

Some people didn't want to wait to get their alarms into their homes.

The detectors were handed out between 9 a.m. and noon on Saturday by the homeowner's association.

Anadarko paid for the detectors.