The Nevada Department of Public Safety (DPS) has released a report on the Argenta Hall explosion that happened in July.
They said University of Nevada, Reno maintenance reported problems with boiler one in the basement of Argenta Hall on June 30. DPS says boiler one went into "safety" mode on July 1, indicating potential problems with its operation.
DPS says that indicator was what triggered Kyle Fraser, a technician from Battle Born Boiler, to inspect the boiler. They said he determined that a faulty servomotor was causing the issue. They said Fraser ordered the servomotor and while waiting for the part to be delivered, boiler one was shut down.
DPS says on July 5, Fraser returned to the university and worked on boiler one that morning. They said while he was working, the first explosion happened.
They said the first explosion caused sufficient damage throughout the basement area and severed the three inch natural gas line form the city supply to the gas train attached to boiler one. DPS says the gas train is where safety measures and and the regulator for the boiler are located.
They said the first explosion resulted in a fire, fueled by natural gas, which ran up the wall left of the boiler. They said water flowed from the fire suppression system, activating the fire alarm. DPS says the alarm company contacted the Reno Fire Department to respond at that point, but they were unaware of the initial explosion.
DPS says the first Reno Fire units arrived shortly after and began investigating. They said Fraser was able to shut off the city supply gas to Argenta Hall from the outside.
They said the basement filled with water from the activated fire suppression system, which extinguished the fire. But, the natural gas from the severed pipe had already allowed 6,000 cubic feet of flammable gas to enter the basement.
DPS says the natural gas filled the first floors and the elevator shaft adjacent to the boiler. It was ignited by one of the several potential ignition sources, which cause the second explosion.
DPS says the ignition source for that explosion could not be determined. They said the sources ranged from the cafeteria cooking equipment, dormitory laundry equipment, elevator cars operating or an unspecified tenant ignition source in Argenta Hall.
DPS says the second explosion caused the ripple effect of structural damage that followed up the elevator shaft and boiler exhaust pipe to the roof, and along the ground floor throughout the cafeteria.
There were no fatalities in the incident and the explosion was not criminal or terror related, DPS said.
To see a photo gallery of the incident, visit this link here.
To read the full reports, see the PDFs below:
