Massachusetts man Jack O’Keefe went to work; he never made it home

NEWBURYPORT — Fire Chief Stephen H. Bradbury III reports that the Newburyport Fire Department and its mutual aid partners are back at the scene of the fatal industrial accident that occurred in Newburyport early Thursday morning.

The body of a missing worker, one of five who were in the building at the time of the explosion, was recovered Thursday, at about 5:30 p.m. at 9 Opportunity Way. The other four workers were treated and released from a local hospital.

The Essex County District Attorney’s office identified the deceased as 62-year-old Jack O’Keefe. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the cause and manner of his death.

According to Boston 25 News, 9 Opportunity Way is the same building where a series of explosions happened in February 2020 at PCI Synthesis. Newburyport pharmaceutical chemical company Seqens, which is located at that address, has incurred at least $168,000 in federal fines for its lengthy record of violating safety laws dating back as far as 2015.

Newburyport Firefighters and State Hazmat technicians remained overnight at the scene of yesterday’s fatal explosion and fire, and this morning they resumed the intensive work of removing potential hazards from the badly damaged building. Crews remain on-scene as they continue to mitigate and work to control the hazardous materials and chemicals that remain.

Approximately four dozen large barrels containing chemicals including acetone, methanol and isopropyl alcohol were painstakingly removed from the building.

As a result of yesterday’s chemical explosion, the building — a metal addition on the rear of the larger facility — suffered significant structural damage. A crane operator was brought in on Friday to shore up a metal support beam as crews worked.

As part of the ongoing response, air meters have been set up around the scene’s perimeter and have continued to show no hazards in the air. Newburyport Fire officials would like to emphasize that there is no danger to the public.

Crews will remain on-scene throughout the day.

“Today’s goal is to remove hazardous materials and start to remove structural material so that the facility can be turned over to private contractors,” Chief Bradbury said. “This is meticulous work, but this is why we have such highly-trained professionals available to assist. I want to again express my gratitude to our Newburyport firefighters and our mutual aid partners from throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire for their tireless assistance.”

Environmental cleanup crews are on scene assessing any impact the incident may have caused to local streams. Crews from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the US Environmental Protection Agency remain on scene as well. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) remains on scene at this time.

Mutual aid for the seven-alarm incident was provided by State Fire Marshal Peter Ostroskey, East Kingston, N.H. Fire and Chief Ed Warren, Amesbury Fire and Chief Jim Nolan and Deputy Chief David Mather, Northeast Technical Rescue Team, Department of Fire Services Technical Rescue, Hazardous Material, and Incident Rehab Units, North Andover Fire and Chief John Weir, Cataldo Ambulance, and the North Reading, Ipswich, Salisbury, Newbury, West Newbury, Georgetown, Groveland, Haverhill, Rowley, Westborough, Seabrook, N.H., Salem, N.H., Exeter, N.H., Hampton, N.H., and North Hampton, N.H. Fire Departments.

Station coverage was provided by the Danvers, Lawrence, and Topsfield Fire Departments.

At about 12:45 a.m. on Thursday, 911 operators received a report of an explosion. Upon arrival, fire crews saw that an industrial-sized vat from inside the building had moved about 30 feet because of the explosion, and it was sitting in an adjacent parking lot.

While the explosion appears related to a chemical manufacturing process and does not appear suspicious, the exact cause remains under investigation by the Newburyport Fire Department, State Police Fire & Explosion Investigation Unit assigned to the State Fire Marshal’s office, and State Police assigned to the Essex County District Attorney’s office.