Explosion at hydrogen fuel plant damages 60 nearby homes in Catawba County

LONGVIEW, N.C. (WBTV) - No injuries were reported in an explosion that happened at a hydrogen and gas facility in Longview Tuesday morning.

The Hickory Fire Department says the explosion happened around 8:30 a.m. at OneH2 Inc on 23rd Street NW.

Officials say all 44 OneH2 employees have been accounted for. It’s unclear how many, if any, employees were inside the facility at the time of the explosion.

It appears the explosion happened near the back, outside part of the building, according to officials. Damage was reported to the building and about 60 surrounding homes.

Fire officials say the homes were inspected and one was deemed uninhabitable. All the other homes suffered “mostly minor damage from the explosion.”

Lynn Brigsbee’s home was the one heavily damaged. by the explosion.

“95 percent of my windows are gone,” she said.

Lynn was on the sofa when the blast happened less than 100 yards away.

“It knocked me off the sofa and onto the floor,” she said.

Inside her home, cabinet doors blew open with contents strewn throughout. Her family has had the home since 1959, she says, and she wants the company to pay to fix it.

So far, no dollar estimate of all the damage in the area has been made. Investigators are still on the scene working to determine the cause.

Officials say it was a hydrogen explosion, but what set it off is unknown. Fire crews were still on the scene late Tuesday afternoon.

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