A man was killed in a fiery explosion at a commercial building in northern Clark County where he was installing vinyl flooring, according to the Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office.
Clark County Fire District 10 responded at about 2:15 p.m. Friday to reports of a fire southeast of the Lewis River Golf Course, The Columbian reported.
Assistant Fire Marshal Curtis Eavenson said a work crew was using a torch to warm up vinyl flooring before installing it, because of cold temperatures inside the building. The torch ignited the highly flammable adhesive and caused a vapor explosion.
Eavenson said one worker was able to escape before the explosion but another was killed.
The building had been vacant for a while, Eavenson said, until someone recently began renovating it.
The man’s name hasn’t been released.