One year ago today, an explosion at the Kleen Energy plant on River Road shook the area.

Six men went to work that day like any other day, but they would never see their families again. More than 20 other people were injured and some spent weeks recovering. Some may never be able to return to work.

Barely five months on the job, I got a frantic call from a colleague who was visiting a friend in Portland around 11:30 a.m. "There's been some sort of explosion," she said. "It was really loud and it shook the ground."

I tracked down a freelancer who has a police scanner at home. "It's at the Kleen Energy plant," he said. "Multiple units at the scene and more coming. They fear many casualties."

Super Bowl Sunday was put on hold, I told my husband. "Order some pizza or something - I am going to work."

From the second I stepped into the office, the phones were ringing off the hook. News agencies from across the world were calling us - The Middletown Press - to find out what was going on. Sister publications called to see what support they could send our small paper, and we scrambled to find extra staff that could come in just to get the "regular" stuff taken care of - like paginating the weather page or typing obituaries. Somehow, those things seemed irrelevant, but they still had to get done.

The news of the blast went viral quickly since it was the largest explosion that had occurred to date at a natural gas plant. Up to 50 people were reported dead at one point, which was then brought down to 2 casualties, and later confirmed at five. A sixth victim died later in the hospital.

Getting any sort of real information - either at the scene or on the phone - was difficult, and the information we heard on the police scanner was scattered, at best. The entire River Road was shut off to secure the scene. Staging areas were set up. A no-fly zone was ordered. Press conferences were arranged.


Then the officials began coming to town: Rosa DeLauro, Chris Dodd, Joe Lieberman, and each wanted to issue a statement on this horrible tragedy.

While no official cause of the blast has been determined, it is believed to have happened because of a spark from an unknown source igniting gas during a gas buildup. The gas purge procedure has now been banned, the company has been cited by OSHA and numerous lawsuits have been filed by the victims and their families.

But the city has also come together to honor, remember and support the victim of the blast. A pub crawl raised money for the victims, and several thousand people came to a fundraiser last April at Middletown High School. In June, the Lions Den hosted a fundraiser at the XL Center in Hartford.

Of course, the money can never replace what was lost that day. So today, on the one-year anniversary of the blast, let's take a moment to remember the six workers who will never come back home.