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Airport Director Dave Damelio says the hydrogen explosion that occurred on airport property during a fuel transfer in late August has been ruled accidental.

"It has been determined that it was an accidental, a faulty hose. Believe it or not the hose
connecting the fuel line to the tankers was faulty. That malfunctioned, whether it was attached properly, I’m not sure, but the explosion was accidental. It wasn't an explosion of the tank itself, just the fueling apparatus," Damelio said.

Many people who were in buildings near the airport’s fuel facility when the explosion occurred, said it felt like an earthquake.

The airports main runway was shut down for about an hour and a half. The county's fire coordinator also closed roads and evacuated buildings until the remaining hydrogen burned out.

"Hydrogen's very, very flammable. Static in the air can cause it to burn and it's an invisible flame. That's where the problem was," Damelio said.

Praxair, Inc. is the hydrogen fuel supply company that contracts with GM. It supplies hydrogen to fueling stations at RIT, the fuel cell plant in Honeoye Falls and the airport.

“We have concluded that the cause of the incident was a failure of the hose that connected the hydrogen trailer with the manifold on the GM system. We removed all hoses manufactured at the same time as the one that failed and replaced them with new hoses that have been certified as fully tested by the manufacturer," said Susan Szita Gore, Praxair. "At other GM locations, we have restarted delivery of hydrogen at a lower pressure through the hose than we had used previously. We have largely completed the investigation although we are still considering certain equipment options that might be implemented in the future.”

Infrastructure at the airport has been repaired, but Damelio said no hydrogen has been delivered there since the explosion.

"This doesn't say that hydrogen's any more dangerous than any other fueling source. Whether we continue to take hydrogen deliveries here, will be an operational call, not a safety call," Damelio said.

The 61-year-old Praxair employee who was driving the hydrogen delivery truck the day of the explosion sustained second degree burns.

Praxair said Robert Scruggs has fully recovered and is back at work.

Praxair, Inc.

Greater Rochester International Airport