SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick – A spectacular explosion and resulting fire at the Irving Oil refinery killed one worker and rocked Saint John shortly after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, causing the evacuation of schools and businesses, and sending ambulances, emergency measures vehicles and firefighters racing to the scene.

The blast in one of two of the refinery’s hydrocracking units killed Bill Hackett, a father of two teen-age daughters. Two other Irving workers were sent to the hospital with minor injuries.

Hackett, a 23-year veteran at the refinery, was a facilities technician whose job it was to monitor equipment and take samples around the hydrocracker apparently involved in the tragic accident.

Plumes of smoke could be seen nearly 20 miles away after the explosion ignited a wall of flame that was, in area, the size of an entire apartment building and dwarfed the efforts of firetrucks to subdue it. Heat was so intense Irving Oil’s own fire crews as well as city firefighters didn’t reach Hackett’s badly burned body until 11:35 a.m., two hours after the initial explosion.

In a statement late Tuesday, Arthur Irving, the proprietor of Irving Oil, said there hadn’t been another fatality in 38 years of operation. “This is probably the saddest day I’ve been on the property. We’re deeply sorry. We feel bad.”

The national representative for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, Ian Thorn, sped to Saint John from Bathurst and after meeting with union officials here said there was no reason to think the refinery was unsafe. “It’s a high-risk industry,” he said, adding that one priority was to ensure an “open and thorough investigation” of the cause of the explosion.

As others were assessing such things as environmental emissions caused by the fire, refinery Manager Bob Chalmers said the fire had burned itself out by early afternoon “in a controlled fashion.” He said, “We don’t yet know exactly what caused today’s accident. We are continuing to cooperate fully and are working alongside government officials to fully investigate its cause.”

Chalmers did reveal, however, that a hydrocracking unit that is at the heart of the operations of Irving Oil was implicated in the accident.

The unit is a primary processor for heavy oil, converting it into lighter, more flammable and clean-burning fuels. When the unit is used, said Chalmers, highly pressurized gas vapor, at temperatures of more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit, is produced. He said the fire may have been sparked within a “fired heater” in the unit.

Chalmers said the rest of the vast refinery is still operating normally and in fact was going all through Tuesday’s events. A full line of products is still being produced.

Gary Bischof, facilities manager for Irving Oil, said last night “we don’t really know how much damage has been done. We’ll be better able to tell as we check everything out in the coming days. I believe repairs are required but I don’t think it needs to be replaced.”

Workers in the plant were clearly alarmed by the explosion that caught them unaware. Four workers who had been in a lunchroom not far from the hydrocracker told Times-Globe reporter Grant Ellis the initial explosion felt like an earthquake, shaking the entire building. They said they didn’t wait for an alarm or to be told where to go. “I just held on for a moment,” said one, “then just used some common sense and got the hell out.”

The wider world of Greater Saint John will not soon forget the moment they beheld the morning sky Tuesday as 200 feet of flame shot in the air, sending up a twisting mushroom cloud of black smoke that headed westward over the city.

Living across Loch Lomond Road from the refinery is Michelle Cato, whose husband works at Irving Oil. “I just looked out the window and thought Oh my God, I hope he’s not near there.”

“I saw the whole thing from my home in Champlain Heights,” said Victoria Lowe. “I was talking on the phone, looking out my living room window when I saw this huge mushroom cloud rise up. It was like Hiroshima. I just thought, my God, the children,” adding that she has two young children at nearby Champlain Heights Elementary School. “I called the refinery immediately and they said they hadn’t heard any reports.”

Darryl Olsen and his fellow workers had been mowing lawns at the nearby St. Mary’s graveyard when the incident occurred. “We were just cutting along when we heard this explosion and saw this big ball of flame shoot from the stack. We all started to run.”

Randy Barnes was putting siding on a Grandview Avenue business when it happened. “I heard a big boom,” he said. He looked around the side of the building and noticed a huge black cloud. “We just drove as fast as we could,” he said.

Children from three area schools were evacuated as the flames billowed from the refinery.

District 8 Director of Education Alex Dingwall said there was “a bit of confusion” when parents came to schools to pick up their children. “It’s like a scenario when the big bomb hits: Everyone hits the highways and you can’t get out of town for that reason.”

Down the street at East Saint John School, Mike Joyce was trying to get his car started. He said many of his neighbors had fled the area and his wife was taking their children to Prince Edward Island until they felt the danger was over. Joyce was staying put, however, even after having his house shaken up by the explosion. “She’s a little nervous,” he said of his wife, Nancy. “We were just watching TV, heard the rumble and kabloom! It rattled the house, rattled everything.”

A short time after that a number of members of the Irving family rushed to the scene: They included J.D. Irving and John Irving. Grim-faced, they sped past Irving security guards and down the long sloping road leading to the area where the fire was raging.

And later, after Hackett was pronounced dead on arrival at Saint John Regional Hospital at about noon, it was time to lament the passing of a good co-worker and neighbor. While five refinery workers congregated in the emergency room, at the main kiosk of the hospital a man walked up and told the receptionist he was there to identify the body of the dead worker.

Will Patterson, director of pastoral care at the hospital, said the coming days will be tough for workers and their families. “They’re in shock,” he said. “They were having an ordinary day and then it was turned upside down. Trying to make sense of the situation is the struggle.”

In Hackett’s quiet neighborhood of Lakewood Height, his tidy gray bungalow stood empty, his wife, Joyce, in seclusion. A woman across the street said he had two daughters, Melissa and Kim, and “had lived here for years. He’s a real nice fella – a family man. I just can’t believe it. We just had someone from here die on a snowmobile last year.”

With files from Saint John Times Globe and other Telegraph Journal Staff.