Abstract: Employee #1 and seven coworkers were engaged in a well circulation procedure in preparation for a Railroad Commission H-5 test. They had been pumping saltwater down the hole for approximately 10 minutes when petroleum fluids and gases began to leak from the blowout preventer. Employee #1 and three coworkers immediately attempted to close the blowout preventer ram blocks using a hand wheel. When this failed to stop the leak, a coworker went for a cheater pipe and Employee #1 went for a 36 in. pipe wrench to increase the leverage and pressure on the ram blocks to obtain a seal. To reach the wrench on the east side of the workover rig, he went downwind and was starting through the area of released gases when an explosion and fire occurred, engulfing Employee #1, a tanker transport truck, and the workover rig and well. He sustained third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body and was killed.