E-Malt.com News article: 1546

A two-alarm fire broke out at the Coors Brewery in Golden in afternoon on September 10, 7NEWS reported. The blaze in a spent malt dryer was quickly extinguished, but three workers were treated for smoke inhalation and taken to Lutheran Hospital. About 100 pounds of grain in one of four dryers caught fire and investigators were trying to determine why. About 100 employees were evacuated during the fire. The fire follows an explosion at a Coors plant in Virginia a day earlier.

The body of a second victim killed in the explosion at the Coors Brewing Co. plant in Elkton, Va., was recovered after a nearly eight-hour search Wednesday, authorities said. The body of Frank Domzalski, 45, of Timberville, was found inside a storage tank that exploded, Rockingham County sheriff's Sgt. Felicia Glick said. The body of Keith A. Dean, 44, of Grottoes, was found shortly after the explosion.

The men, employees of contractor E.A. Breeden Inc., were welding near the tank when it exploded, Coors spokeswoman Janet Wendelken said. The bodies were sent to the state medical examiner's office for autopsies. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation. Coors brews and bottles Killian's Red and Coors Light at the Elkton plant, which employs 468 people. About 10 Coors employees work at the plant's wastewater treatment site, where the explosion occurred. No brewery workers were hurt, Wendelken said.


12 September, 2003