Hollister
– An unidentified woman in her 50s was injured Thursday in an
early morning explosion at Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials,
a local company that makes controlled explosive products for the
aerospace and automotive safety industries, law enforcement
officials said.
Hollister – An unidentified woman in her 50s was injured Thursday in an early morning explosion at Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials, a local company that makes controlled explosive products for the aerospace and automotive safety industries, law enforcement officials said.
The explosion occurred at about 7:20am Thursday, San Benito County Sheriff’s Detective Tom Keylon said.
Keylon said the woman suffered third-degree burns to her face, forearms and hands.
However, Nancy Towsley, senior human resources manager for Pacific Scientific, said the woman received “minor injuries.”
The woman was flown by helicopter to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, Keylon said.
He said the woman was mixing chemicals used in the production of airbag deployment devices. Keylon said the explosion did not start a fire, but caused minor damage to the building.
Towsley told the Free Lance Thursday afternoon that the woman was expected to be released from the hospital today.
Towsley would not release the woman’s name.
Fire, medical and law enforcement crews responded to the explosion at the facility, located at 3601 Union Road in Hollister.
Sheriff’s deputies talked to company officials at the main gate of the Pacific Scientific facility, but did not go inside, Keylon said.
“They have their own medics and security at the facility,” he said.
Emergency personnel assisted company staff in getting the employee to the hospital, according to the company.
Towsley said an investigation by the company into the cause of the explosion is under way.
“We emphasize safety as a daily way of life,” she said.
Keylon said the Sheriff’s Office has been sent to the facility on emergency calls at least four times in the last two years.
Pacific Scientific has more than 200 employees and is San Benito County’s fourth-largest employer. The company produces more than 650 products including initiators, detonators and explosive bolts. The products are produced at a 200,000-square-foot facility on 271 acres, according to the company’s Web site.
In 2005, the U.S. Navy awarded Pacific Scientific a nearly $23.5 million contract to manufacture detonators for explosives used to clear minefields.
Last year, a federal funding bill awarded the company $3.5 million to continue testing a system that uses airbags to protect soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan from rocket-propelled grenade attacks.
