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There have been sleepless nights for some people in Woods Cross as neighbors of the Silver Eagle refinery try to shake off the Wednesday explosion that rocked their homes.
"The real question is, how dangerous is it to live here?" said Traci Peterson, the mother of three young children.
Peterson, who lives near the oil refinery, isn't the only person asking that question as her neighborhood recovers from the explosion that smashed windows, bent garage doors and peeled siding from at least 10 houses.
A team from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents, walked the immediate neighborhood Thursday with Woods Cross Mayor Kent Parry.
"The company has been responsive," Parry said. "Our priority is to ensure the safety of our residents."
One house has been condemned, but several dozen people called in to complain about minor damage, city officials said.
Parry said a study, done before the subdivision nearest the refinery was built, had outlined safety issues that weren't enough to stop the city from approving construction on the land.
While standing in front of a claims table set up outside the most-damaged homes, Silver Eagle President Dave McSwain told reporters he had not read that study but would review it.
Insurance vehicles and construction trucks lined the street as he talked about the upset and nervous homeowners.
"I don't blame them. It was a trauma in their life; of course, they're going to be nervous about it. And we have been working with the city on that. We will continue to work with them until we come to a solution," McSwain said.
Silver Eagle has offered to house the people worried about the structural integrity or the security of their homes.
"They are our neighbors. We are here to help them," McSwain said.
The 9 a.m. blast started in a vessel, called a diesel hydrotreater, that removes sulfur compounds from diesel fuel. That portion of the plant is shut down, McSwain said.
He said a company team had met with the Chemical Safety Board and others to talk about the incident but had no explanation yet for the cause of the explosion.
The CSB was still investigating a January fire that burned for 11 hours at the plant and forced evacuation from Woods Cross homes.
Federal investigators expressed alarm over the extent of damages caused by a refinery that has had a history of trouble dating to 2003.
Silver Eagle had fires in 2003, 2005 and 2007, according to federal records.
"We're concerned about the number of refinery accidents," said Daniel Horowitz, a spokesman for the CSB.
"Counting this case, that's eight refinery cases open right now, with three in Salt Lake. It's a number we're concerned about."
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration also met Thursday with the company.
OSHA records show the company was cited for five violations in the January fire, but the case file had not been closed. Other violations, 18 in total, were listed by OSHA in 2002 and 2004 reports.
Neighbors planned a series of their own meetings, one at a nearby church, to talk about the incident.
Jennifer Derbyshire lives on the opposite side of the refinery from the Peterson family.
She was appreciative the company had posted a letter on her door within 24 hours of the incident -- a letter apologizing for the explosion and outlining what to do in case of damage.
"The company was here before I moved in," Derbyshire said as her son played with chalk in front of the house -- a home that shook the day before as she worked on her computer.
But Peterson, who was evacuated after the January fire, said she has had enough of a scare and too many sleepless nights and plans to move.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
