Three contractors injured in what authorities say was an apparent electrical incident on June 9 at the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant in Baltimore, Maryland, are still recovering, public works officials said.
Two of the three workers remain in critical condition following what Baltimore fire officials have speculated may have been a “power arc or electrical fuse failure” that caused an explosion. It occurred while work was being conducted by the contractors to expand the plant’s electrical capacity.
Director of the Baltimore City Department of Public Works, Matthew Garbark, told reporters that many questions have yet to be answered, and the incident will soon be under investigation by both electrical and fire experts.
“There was a power interruption at approximately 1:03 p.m.,” Garbark said of the incident.
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No fire occurred at the facility and the wastewater treatment plant’s equipment was not damaged by the incident. Backup generators were used while electrical engineers surveyed the scene with the plant’s primary power off.
“Once we render it safe, we’ll begin an investigation,” Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace told reporters at a June 9 press conference. “The cause of this is undetermined at this point and is unlikely to be determined today.”
Wallace said the fire department discovered the contractors “down with significant injuries,” although one of the contractors had serious but not critical injuries.
The contractors are not employed by the city.
Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott asked that the city’s residents keep the contractors in their thoughts as they try to stabilize their conditions.
In 2020, the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant upgraded to a tertiary enhanced nutrient removal treatment system with an 81 MGD (307,000 m³/day) design capacity.
