A second Westmoreland County man was identified as the other victim who was killed Monday in an explosion at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works.
Steven Menefee, 52, of the village of Tarrs in East Huntingdon, was pronounced dead at 7:26 p.m. at the scene of the blast, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said Thursday. Searchers pulled his body from underneath the rubble created by the explosion.
A family member at the Menefee house declined to comment, as did a neighbor.
The explosion at the nation’s largest coke manufacturing facility also killed Timothy Quinn, 39, who lived in the village of Fitz Henry in South Huntingdon, and injured 10 others.
The blast occurred around 10:47 a.m. Monday, spewing a huge black cloud into the air and triggering an hourslong rescue and recovery effort to pull people from the site of the explosion.
Officials have not provided any explanation for what might have caused the disaster, but multiple government agencies are investigating.
There were no indications of safety concerns leading up to the blast, according to Scott Buckiso, senior vice president and chief manufacturing officer of U.S. Steel’s North American Flat-Rolled segment.
Much of the plant, which stands along the Monongahela River 20 miles south of Pittsburgh in Clairton, was operational by Tuesday. U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt told reporters during a Tuesday news conference that there was no risk in continuing operations at the site.
Ten others were injured in the explosion, including an Allegheny County Health Department employee who was treated at a hospital and released. Nearly 1,300 people work at the Clairton plant, according to U.S. Steel.
County health officials have said air and water quality tests showed levels within federal limits during and after the explosion.
The county health department said Thursday that it will increase air monitoring by placing mobile air units from the Department of Environmental Protection and Carnegie Mellon University in the Mon Valley on Thursday and Friday as part of the department’s investigation of the explosion.
The Clairton Coke Works is part of U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works, an integrated steelmaking operation that also includes the Edgar Thomson Plant in Braddock, the Irvin Plant in West Mifflin and a finishing facility called Fairless that is near Philadelphia.
The Clairton plant produces about 4.3 million tons of coke annually.
Before Monday’s explosion, the most recent accident at the site was in February, when a hydraulic issue caused an explosion that injured two people. In 2009, a worker was killed in an explosion at the site.
Friends and family of Quinn will be received from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Bible Alliance Church, 1300 Mt. Pleasant Road, South Huntingdon. Additional visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, the time of the funeral service with Pastor Corey Dalley officiating, at Bible Alliance Church.
Julia Burdelski is a TribLive reporter covering Pittsburgh City Hall and other news in and around Pittsburgh. A La Roche University graduate, she joined the Trib in 2020. She can be reached at jburdelski@triblive.com.
