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Thursday, October 1, 2026 • Rain overnight continues. 76-82. 🌧️
Poll results:
We received 276 votes on the Tuesday poll, “If Oklahoma recovers money from the Winter Storm Uri case, how should customers get it back?”
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Direct refund or check (120)
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ Credit on utility bills (111)
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New poll question at the bottom of today’s newsletter. (You can also suggest a poll question by emailing me at [email protected].)
Sand Springs explosion brings inspection quality into question
Damien O’Daniel pauses for a photo at a park in Shawnee. O’Daniel received a third-degree burn in an industrial accident at a Logan County marijuana processing plant. (Rip Stell/Oklahoma Watch)
By Brenna Witchey, Oklahoma Watch
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When Damien O’Daniel returned from his lunch break at Releaf Labs on April 27, 2023, a coworker was operating a hazardous marijuana extraction machine with the gas clamps wide open. Butane poured into the air rapidly, but the alarms didn’t sound.
If the system was up to code, the odorless gas would have triggered an alarm. But it wasn’t, according to court documents. Releaf Labs had recently moved into a new, unlicensed building after a wildfire damaged its first facility, O’Daniel said.
O’Daniel told his coworker that they needed to close the valves. His coworker picked up a battery-powered screwdriver and pulled the trigger. They were immediately engulfed in flames.
Fire raced up O’Daniel’s legs, setting his pants ablaze and melting his skin. He ripped his pants off as he ran from the building. Recovery lasted about a month in the hospital; he had second- and third-degree burns and needed skin grafts.
He recognized the danger and recalled telling family members it was only a matter of time before the facility caught fire, but employees kept operating.
O’Daniel said the operational margins are so thin that the owner said he couldn’t afford to stop working after their other building was damaged.
“If the fire marshal had seen that building, we wouldn’t have been operating,” O’Daniel said.
Sound familiar?
Over 4 million people have had the same lightbulb moment.
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Here’s what’s happening in Oklahoma today:
Former Edmond Mayor speaks out after heated exchange with Mullin (KFOR)
Denied: Judge weighed access to Justin Sneed's files in Richard Glossip retrial case (Fox 25)
Enid police seek man accused of attacking woman walking children to school (News 9)
Tecumseh High School football coach on administrative leave amid criminal investigation (KFOR)
Tahlequah officer placed on leave amid investigation into alleged excessive force (KJRH)
Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes to consider data center ban on tribal land this weekend (OPMX)
Oklahoma County killer to seek clemency ahead of November execution (Oklahoma Voice)
Health department can’t change Oklahoma gender designations on birth certificate, court rules (Oklahoma Voice)
Sapulpa community devastated after Heritage Park closes permanently (KJRH)
OU football coach Brent Venables stands by John Mateer: 'John's our starting quarterback' (The Oklahoman)*
Forget about winning, shoot for competence (Oklahoma Columnist)
Berry Tramel: Can home-run hire Eric Morris save OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg? (Tulsa World)*
Thursday Poll
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