Emotional testimony marks blast trial

ROSWELL, N.M. (KRQE-KBIM) - The trial of a landmark lawsuit is being described as an emotional rollercoaster as witnesses relive "a scene from hell," the fireball that killed 12 members of one family.

About two dozen first responders are suing El Paso Natural Gas Company citing emotional distress. The trial is underway in Roswell before District Judge Freddie J. Romero.

The volunteer firefighters and medical personnel responded to a pipeline explosion about south of Carlsbad along the Pecos River on Aug. 19, 2000.

Court documents describe the responders arriving on “a scene from hell” where the 12 members of an extended family had been camping and were either dead or dying from agonizing burns.

Two men who worked for the gas company were the first on scene.

“I said, 'I can see a line rupture. I’m headed down there,'” Enrique Salgado, a 29-year employee for El Paso Natural Gas, testified.

Salgado lived near Carlsbad at the time and could see the glow about 35 miles away.

He and another employee managed to shut the pipeline valves off and control the enormous flames. Then they heard screaming.

“I grabbed my burn unit and my first aid kit and I took off running downstream, down the river,” Salgado recalled. “I knew what this line was capable of, the heat.

"I knew it wasn’t going to be good.”

Normally firefighters and first responders aren’t able to sue on the ground of emotional distress. In 2007, however, the New Mexico Supreme Court overruled that in this case saying there was substantial evidence EPNG neglected the pipeline for nearly 50 years and that negligence lead to the emotional distress.

The trial is expected to last into late November.

If the gas company is found guilty in this civil case, the plaintiffs could be awarded around $13 million.