Oilfield Burn Victim Suffered Serious Burns When an Oil Rig in North Texas Exploded During a Workover

We were working on a well that had been shut in for many many years and since it’s been shut in for so long, it had a gas pocket with oil in it and it just shot straight underneath my truck causing an explosion.

If the rig guys would have shut the casing valve in, the well would have been shut in. Someone forgot to close it while they were down there.

The well exploded and I just I remember getting off the floor about 20 or 30 ft away from my truck. I just got up and looked at my body, I was all burnt up. I walked into the truck get to the hospital while I walk out of the truck and take off on my clothes and lay down on a bed since day one of the accident. I mean my wife stayed with me the whole time, she never left my side. Well, at first, you know, I tried to be a tough guy, you know, I was like you know it was just an accident. I’ll get back to normal and I’ll get on with my life and I’ll get better and I’ll get back to work. But I got out of the hospital and I started to realize my my limitations of what I could and couldn’t do. I started to realize that I wasn’t going to be able to work how I used.

So I called y’all and y’all hooked me up right away y’all did a great job, Y’all went above and beyond to help me. Matt and Mike and Valentina all the time she’s always calling me and checking in on me. Anytime I had a question I’d call and they’d give back to me right away. Vice versa, they’d call and check up on me and see how I was doing. The process was nice and easy they treated me very well. Y’all covered all the expenses, the flight to go see the doctor, y’all hooked me up with in Louisiana workman’s comp. Is real slow to get any kind of treatment really to get you in and to get things approved it’s a pain in the butt.

Zehl & Associates paid for three, four surgeries straight off the bat before workman’s comp got one done.

Well the journey was, it was long, but worth it for sure. It turned out great for us and we’re going to live good. I mean my kids and my wife, they’ll have everything they ever need.