One man remained in serious condition Friday after a boiler blew up in the LDS Church's Idaho Falls Temple.
The explosion occurred at 3:20 p.m. Thursday while three men tried to change over from one boiler to another. Apparently they were having trouble lighting one of them, police said.The boiler door and smokestack were blown off, power lines were damaged in the boiler room and nicks were found in the walls, police said.
John VanDyke, 49, a temple employee, remained in serious but stable condition Friday at Columbia Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. Police believe he may have been knocked out from the explosion because he could not remember the incident.
Jeff Jardine, 50, a temple employee, and Howard Beins, 40, an employee of Rocky Mountian Boiler, were treated for minor burns and lacerations and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Robert Nield, assistant to the temple recorder, characterized the accident as a "light explosion."
"Those of us who were away from the basement maintenance area didn't feel anything," temple matron Emma Jane Nelson said.
Nelson said auxiliary electric baseboard units were being used for heat.