The tank project began with almost no government oversight, receiving little official attention until one man was dead and another critically injured. Meanwhile, the Butte County District Attorney’s Office is considering criminal charges in connection with the explosion. Northern Lights, a Washington state company, is appealing the citations. California’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration has charged contractor Northern Lights Mechanical with 30 violations, including failure to use equipment that prevents sparks. His job that day was to haul away oil sludge.īut during the course of that morning he walked into a project that state officials say was marred by flagrant violations of safety regulations. He worked as a hazardous-materials hauler who sometimes moved 800-pound drums. He wears thongs over his bandage-wrapped feet that swell like inflating balloons.īarclay worked for Chico Drain Oil Service, a subcontractor on a project to dismantle antiquated storage tanks at the Jesse Lange plant that distributes Shell Oil products. A skin-tight nylon garment that moves body fluids through scar tissue covers his arms and chest. Now, it’s July, five months after a hellish moment, and 25 pounds feels like a planet. 13, when he was maimed by an exploding gasoline storage tank in south Chico. It’s not much weight for a 48-year-old man who has worked as a truck driver and a bouncer, a man who stands 6’2” and once weighed 245 pounds. His spindly legs, burned to the bone in a February gas tank explosion, are wrapped in Ace bandages.īarclay’s slender arms stretch upward, pressing 25 pounds, again and again. ![]() His gloved left hand can’t quite grasp the handlebar. ![]() Randy Barclay heaves upward on the upper-back chest-press in a Chico health club weight room, puffing and pink from effort.
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