Hospital: 4 students hurt in Idaho explosion in good condition

MOSCOW, Idaho — Four University of Idaho students were upgraded to good condition Friday morning following an explosion in a school parking lot where people had gathered to test an experimental rocket.

The four were injured when the device exploded after they ignited the fuel just before 10 p.m. Thursday. The parking lot is located outside the steam plant of the northern Idaho university.

The four injured students were transported to Gritman Medical Center in Moscow, Idaho. Hospital spokesman Eric Hollenbeck reported that all were in good condition. Initially hospital officials had said one student was in critical condition and the others were stable.

Their names haven’t been released.

There will be no interruption of classes Friday on the campus of about 12,000 students, Vice President Daniel Ewart said.

“The buildings are safe,” Ewart said. “The campus is safe.”

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the incident, but it is not a criminal investigation, Moscow Police Chief James Fry said.

The people involved were not intending to launch the experimental rocket. Instead they were using a device made up of a galvanized pipe, which measured about a foot (0.3 meter) in length and an 1 inch and a half (27 millimeters) in diameter, to test the fuel, Ewart said.

“There was no intention to launch a rocket,” Ewart said.

Ewart did not know how many people were in the vicinity of the explosion.

He said all four injured people underwent surgery after the explosion.

The school said the students were alert and communicating with school officials early Friday morning, and that their parents had been notified.

Grant Thurman, a student and member of the Northwest Organization of Rocket Engineers, said the club was attempting to test the rocket fuel, but when one of the club’s co-presidents ignited the fuel, it exploded.

“We were testing a new fuel design for the rocket engine and we didn’t have reason to believe it would blow up or anything because it was a slow-burning fuel,” Thurman said. “But as soon as it was lit, it blew up.”

Thurman said the man igniting the fuel wore face protection, but the others wore only eye protection.

The club is made up of students and faculty who design and test rockets. It’s not clear if any faculty were present at the time of the explosion.

The school said there’s no damage to the steam plant, which heats most of the campus.