Four Dead in County Fair Blast

July 30, 2001 -- The Medina, Ohio county fair where four people were killed and dozens injured when an antique steam engine exploded Sunday evening opened for business today.

One police officer, two steam-engine operators and a vendor setting up a booth near the display were killed in the blast, according to the Medina county sheriff's office.

Nearly 50 others were injured in the blast, which sent hot oil and shrapnel flying through the air. Fair spokeswoman Allison Pitit said the injuries ranged from burns to lacerations caused by the debris.

Nine people remained hospitalized today at Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron. One of them was in serious condition.

Among the people injured were two police officers who were about to give the drivers of the tractor a ticket for operating heavy machinery on a city street without a permit.

It could be weeks before officials are ready to say what caused the explosion, since two of the people killed were the men operating the tractor and witnesses are spread out throughout area hospitals so it will take some time to interview them all, Fire Chief Bill Herthneck said.

It is the second straight year the fair has faced problems. Last year fair organizers had to shut down the petting zoo because of an outbreak of E. coli. One girl was critically ill and 30 others got sick as a result of the bacteria outbreak.

At Least One Child Burned Badly

"It was bad. Real bad," one unidentified witness said. "A bunch of little kids like 12, 12 little kids, were up in there. It was horrible... the worst thing I've ever seen in my life."

A child brought to Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron had burns covering 100 percent of the body, The Associated Press reported. That child's condition is unknown.

The deceased have been identified as Alan Kimble, 46; Cliff Kovacic, 48; William Kovacic, 27; and Dennis Jungbluth, 58.

Turn-of-the-Century Relic Turns Deadly

The yellow-and-red steam engine was of the type used by farmers a century ago to power their equipment. But the beautiful relic turned deadly when it exploded from the inside, the force of the blast sent shrapnel flying hundreds of feet.

"Everything shook and everything jumped up," said eyewitness Adam Black. "You could hear shrapnel hitting the building and just pieces coming everywhere."

Black said he and other bystanders tried to put the fire out.

"We grabbed buckets and just started running over there with water," he said. "Hundreds of buckets."

Despite the tragedy, organizers say there is no reason why the fair should not go on as planned.

"It's a limited area of the grounds, it's nothing that's going to operate as far as wrongful safety of the fairgoer or anything like that," said James Bigham, the fair's chief of security. "There's a lot of planning that goes into putting on this fair and we want people to be able to come and enjoy the fair for a week."

He pointed out that the people killed were all workers at the fair, and said cancelling it or even shutting it down for a day would be doing them a disservice.

"I think we'd be honoring those families by continuing with the fair as opposed to cancelling the fair or a fair day because of it," Bigham said. Those people were a part of our fair, the people that died were close to many of us on this board."

Engine a Regular Exhibit at Fair

Herthneck said the engine was a regular exhibit at the fair.

"This is a piece of an old antique steam engine tractor that is routinely here and they were starting it up and running it, as they always do," he said.

Herthneck said there was no fire, only an explosion, and the injuries were all "immediate and in great number."

Ken Visocky said the scene after the blast looked like a war zone.

"Like being in Vietnam," he said.

Although the fair was not officially open when the blast occurred, its gates were and many people were bringing their animals in for livestock competitions. There was also a harness racing event at the fairgrounds on Sunday.ABCNEWS Radio contributed to this report.