WEST UNION — The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating an explosion in Doddridge County last week that killed one man and injured three others.

Barry Lattea, 51, an employee of Buckhannon, W.Va.-based Hydrocarbon Well Service, died Saturday, said Prentice Cline, area director for the OSHA office in Charleston. The Associated Press reported that he died at a Pittsburgh hospital of thermal and inhalation injuries.

Lattea was one of four men injured while disassembling three storage tanks near 145 Whitehair Lane south of U.S. 50. He and three others were taken from the scene via helicopter.

The other three men are employees of Waste Management, Cline said.

“They received fairly serious burns,” he said.

According to a release from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, three aboveground storage tanks (AST), apparently owned by Hydrocarbon, were taken to the Whitehair Lane site. Two had been decommission several years ago, while the third was part of an active oil and gas well.

“The fire is believed to have occurred when the one active AST was being cut up for scrap using a torch,” the release says. “They were decommissioning this active AST in order to replace it.”

Some oil entered a nearby stream, Cabin Run, but the amount is not known, the release says.

“Absorbent booms were placed in the stream to prevent oil from leaving the site,” the release says. “Additional booms were placed approximately 700 feet downstream, and an underflow dam was installed approximately 100 feet downstream of the initial spill.”

No fish kill was reported.

Hydrocarbon hired Enviroclean to conduct environmental remediation, the release says.