Speciality Abatement Service employees remove asbestos material from the Rouse Polymerics International Inc. site Wednesday.(The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)

[05/23/02]A Port Gibson man and a Tallulah man, both employees of the south Vicksburg rubber-recycling plant that exploded May 16, have died of their injuries.

Tywayne Croskey, 24, 1401 College St., Port Gibson, died at 5:14 p.m. Tuesday, and Alfred Harrison, 42, 707 Arey St., Tallulah, died at 12:06 a.m. Wednesday, Warren County Coroner John Thomason said. Both died at Mississippi Firefighters Memorial Burn Center in Greenville where they were taken after the fire at Rouse Polymerics International Inc. on U.S. 61 South.

Their deaths brought to three the number who have died from the catastrophe. Six remained hospitalized today, including five listed in critical condition.

The company’s purchasing manager, C. Theodore “Teddy” Smith, 40, of Vicksburg, died Friday. Witnesses said he was out, but returned to the building to try to help co-workers. An autopsy showed he died of smoke inhalation, Thomason said Wednesday.

The five who remained in intensive care and listed in critical condition this morning were Patrick Rader, 29, of Vicksburg, at River Region Medical Center, and John Davenport, 27, of Vicksburg; Roy Deaton, 50, of Vicksburg; Antonio Hamlin, 21, of Port Gibson; and George Stewart, 33, of Fayette, are all in the Greenville hospital, which has the most specialized burn facility in the state. Rader was to be transferred to the burn center today, River Region spokesman Diane Gawronski said.

Walter Doss Jr., 28, of Vicksburg, remained listed as in fair condition, also at the burn center. Eli Williams, 35, of Vicksburg, was discharged from River Region Medical Center, Gawronski said.

One man was treated and released the night of the fire, and one was discharged from River Region Sunday.

Beginning with scrap rubber, Rouse produces finely ground rubber powder used in the manufacture of tires and other products. It employs more than 100 people on three shifts.

Its production facility exploded and caught fire during its second, 3:30 p.m.-to-midnight, shift while about 20 workers were in or around the building. Croskey and Harrison were both machine operators at the plant, family members said.

Local and state investigators ruled the fire an accident, but its cause continued to be investigated Wednesday, and officials from the Vicksburg Fire Department and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were among those examining the inside of the production facility.

Meanwhile, workers began removing asbestos siding and firefighters continued to respond to hot spots on the west side of the 60,000-square-foot building.

“We want to try to work with the families and the lives we’ve lost,” company owner and chief executive officer Michael Rouse said. “We want to try to work with the families who are grieving.”

Rouse said he had a “major meeting with employees” Tuesday to discuss financial and other benefits available to them through the company and state and federal agencies, including unemployment compensation.

“All those programs are totally activated,” he said. “We’re trying to reduce the stress on our employees.”

Fire Chief Keith Rogers said he and fire department investigator Leslie Decareaux talked with several Rouse employees and made progress toward determining how the fire happened. On Sunday, Rogers said it was highly possible that it was a chain reaction of three events, culminating with an ignition of airborne rubber dust that caused the fire to flash through the entire building.

Rouse said an OSHA representative was also interviewing employees, including one in the burn center, and that the company was fully cooperating with the investigation.

Equipment, procedures and training were in place to control whatever fires may have started at the plant, Rouse said. “We look at fires as something that should never happen,” he said. “If the process gets out of control, there are controls that kick in.”

He also released a written statement saying the fire “started in the vicinity of our packaging system” and adding that the fire could not be linked to the proprietary part of Rouse’s process.

Arrangements for Croskey will be announced by Thompson Funeral Home of Port Gibson. Arrangements for Harrison will be announced by Beckwith Funeral Home in Tallulah.