The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

August 21, 2008

Kerosene recall raises questions about Amish woman's death

By Patrick W. Connelly

LACKAWANNOCK TOWNSHIP — State agencies said Thursday they don’t know if tainted kerosene from an Allegheny County distributor may have caused the June 21 fire that led to a Lackawannock Township Amish woman's death.

Ada Kurtz, 25, died six days after suffering burns in a fire sparked after pouring what she thought was kerosene into a wood-burning water heater at her home. Authorities say the can contained gasoline.

Pittsburgh Terminals Corp., of Coraopolis, issued a recall Wednesday on all kerosene they distributed between May 1 and Tuesday, warning the substance they sold may contain traces of gasoline and could potentially be explosive.

Mrs. Kurtz bought what she believed to be kerosene at Pitzer's Gulf Service Station, 212 New Castle St., New Wilmington, police said.

Vapors apparently flared as she lit the water heater, firefighters said.

New Wilmington fire Chief Gary Wagner said the container Mrs. Kurtz used contained gasoline, not kerosene.

The fire was ruled accidental and New Wilmington police Chief Carmen Piccirillo said Thursday after learning of the recall he still maintains that ruling.

“Nobody's making an allegation of any criminal activity,” he said. “This really isn't a police matter. None of it is.”

The Department of Environmental Protection probed Pitzer's tanks and found no leaks, Freda Tarbell, a community relations coordinator in DEP's Meadville office said.

DEP isn't authorized to do any sort of chemical analysis and only checks on incidents involving handling and storage, she said.

Piccirillo said he served as a witness to an oil company taking samples of the kerosene, but couldn't remember the company's name.

An attendant at Pitzer's said he wasn't sure who supplies the station's kerosene and that owner Bob Pitzer was out of town.

A message left with Pittsburgh Terminals to see if it supplies Pitzer's kerosene wasn't returned. A spokesperson for the company said they've been swamped with calls in the wake of the recall.

Lawrence County state Trooper Jan Wilson said she investigated the station after the fire and believed the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Weights and Measures tested the substance.

The bureau only tests for quality and didn't do an analysis of the kerosene, Nicole Bucher of the department's press office said.

Bucher said she wasn't sure if any state agency had examined Pitzer's supply.

Anyone who bought kerosene in western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, northern West Virginia and the southwestern border of New York were warned by Pittsburgh Terminals not to use it.

The company asks those who bought it from retailers in those area during the time frame to return it for a refund or replacement.

A malfunctioning valve at the Coraopolis warehouse led to the problem, the company said.



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