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By AMY BICKEL

The Hutchinson News

ARLINGTON -- Federal inspectors were on the scene in Arlington on Thursday after a grain elevator explosion sent a worker to a Wichita hospital burn unit with serious injuries.

The explosion was reported early Thursday at the Cairo Co-op in Arlington, about 15 miles southwest of Hutchinson in Reno County.

Sheriff Randy Henderson said one employee was taken to a Wichita hospital with burns. Investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were at the elevator.

Reno County Emergency Management Director Bill Guy said an elevator employee opened an elevator door to go inside and do an inspection when the explosion occurred at 7:24 a.m.

The elevator is just off Kansas Highway 61. No other employees were at the facility at the time, Guy said.

"No cause has been determined yet," Guy said. "We are in the investigation stage right now."

He noted it could be a few days before a cause could be determined.

Evacuation ordered

Emergency officials were evacuating a three-block area near the Arlington grain elevator.

Guy said the evacuation is a precaution as firefighters put out a fire inside the elevator.

It also wasn't clear just how much damage had been done, Guy said. Firefighters reported damage to the ground level of the structure, as well as embers and sparks initially coming from the elevator headhouse.

There was no smoke or flames coming from the elevator Thursday morning.

"There is a little damage inside the elevator, but we don't know how much," Guy said.

The explosion blew out windows in the headhouse and also blew out a large metal overhead door at ground level.

Officials with Kansas Gas Service were inspecting the area for gas leaks. Traffic on K-61 and Kansas Highway 14 near the elevator was diverted and the railroad through Arlington was shut down.

It was just a big boom

Arlington resident John Buser was drinking coffee in Carolyn's Essenhaus cafe in Arlington when he heard the explosion.

"It was just a big boom," he said. "It shook things in here a little bit. It didn't shake the glass or cupboards, but you could really feel the concussion."

"We debated whether it was an earthquake or just what it was."

Benjamin Cunningham, of Arlington, who was working at Bontrager Custom Cabinets, across from Carolyn's, ran outside into the street to see what was happening.

He saw smoke coming out of the headhouse, he said.

"It sounded like a barrel coming over the roof," he said. "We ran outside and saw the smoke. I didn't know what it was. But my buddies at work thought it was a propane tank."

Jenni Yoder, who opened the cafe for business at 6 a.m. Thursday, said she thought it was either an explosion or an accident.

Guy, who's never experienced a grain elevator explosion in Reno County in his 15-plus years on the job, wasn't sure what grains were being stored in the elevator.

-- The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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