Probe Continues Year after Fort Worth, TX, Hotel Blast

One year ago, a massive explosion at a downtown Fort Worth hotel shattered the chilly afternoon calm just as the workday came to a close.

The blast on Jan. 8, 2023, in the kitchen at Musume, a Japanese restaurant in the basement of the Sandman Hotel at the corner of Houston and West Eighth streets, left 21 wounded, some with serious injuries.

Lawsuits and GoFundMe accounts seeking help with medical expenses flourished in the ensuing weeks. The suits continue in litigation, as the investigation into the cause of the explosion is ongoing.

But that does not mean the cause remains a mystery, according to Richard Meier, a Florida-based fire and explosion investigation expert.

Pinpointing the cause of the explosion “shouldn’t take that long,” Meier said. “It may take a few weeks, might take a a few months before all the investigators get together and determine where the leak came from. That being said, the release of information to the public may take far longer.”

In the weeks after the explosion, workers involved in converting the historic W.T. Waggoner building into a hotel told the Star-Telegram that they had witnessed irregular construction practices during the renovation.

Restaurant workers with lawsuits against the hotel’s parent company Northland Properties, its subsidiaries and restaurant partners, and gas distributor Atmos Energy said they smelled gas in the hours before the explosion. They alerted management to the odor, according to court documents, but no evacuation was ordered.

Who is conducting the investigation into the Sandman Hotel explosion?

Public-sector investigators usually release this information quickly, Meier said, but private companies like insurance agencies and law firms tend to keep it close to the vest to guard the interests of their clients, he said.

“At this point, they probably do know” the cause, Meier said. “But unfortunately, the legal process, especially on the civil side, can drag out for quite a long time, sometimes years.”

After its own investigation returned no evidence to indicate possible criminality, the Fort Worth Fire Department handed over control of the investigation to Northland in February. Fire department spokesperson Craig Trojacek told the Star-Telegram that the Dallas-based law firm Thompson Coe is conducting the investigation on behalf of Northland.

The department has since played the role of overseer in the investigation, and reserves the right to take over again in the event of potential criminality.

“We are notified of every action or planned action,” Trojacek said. “We provide input into proposed protocols related to any pending action. We monitor the actions and cooperative efforts of the entity in control, Thompson Coe. The investigation is being conducted under numerous consensus standards and industry best practices.”

Photos captured at scene

An administrative assistant at Thompson Coe said she was unable to access any information about the case without the name of the lawyer working it. A spokesperson for Northland did not respond to an email seeking the lawyer’s name.

When asked for an update on the investigation into the cause of the blast, the Northland spokesperson highlighted the company’s “ongoing commitment to the safe and thorough restoration of the Sandman Signature Hotel on this historic Fort Worth site.”

The statement detailed debris removal and other cleanup efforts and expressed the company’s enthusiasm for reopening by the end of this year.

“Finally, we would like to share our sincere appreciation for the tremendous support we have received to date from the people of Fort Worth, local businesses, and regional authorities,” the statement said. “We are eternally grateful for the understanding, patience, and unwavering encouragement that has been shown to our team members and those injured last January. We continue to keep all those affected in our thoughts. We look forward to opening our doors again soon.”

How are the victims of the Fort Worth hotel explosion doing a year later?

Kitchen worker José Mira, who spoke to the Star-Telegram in the moments after the blast as he was covered in dust and with a visible cut on his arm, declined to comment.

“Everything fell, the walls, the floor, everything,” he said on the day of the explosion. “It’s a miracle I’m alive.”

A family member of Maite Karen López, another Musume kitchen worker who was severely burned in the explosion, did not respond to a request for comment. Her family started a GoFundMe page that has raised over $21,000 for her medical expenses.

Sandman Hotel employee Carmen Hermosillo was trapped in the rubble for two hours before firefighters pulled her out. Her family also started a GoFundMe page seeking assistance with her medical expenses. It has raised just under $5,000 of a stated goal of $15,000. Her niece and nephew who created the page did not respond to a message sent via the website.

Others seeking damages in lawsuits include Timothy Bowman, a hotel valet who was “just feet away” from the blast and ended up “covered in blood,” according to court documents. Bowman received a traumatic brain injury as a result that will affect him for the rest of his life, according to his lawyer, Houston-based injury attorney Ryan Zehl.

“Our clients, along with the community, deserve transparency and accountability,” Zehl said. “They’ve suffered life-altering injuries, and have now been left in limbo. The continued delay compounds their suffering and raises serious concerns about public safety — namely, whether anything is being done to stop preventable tragedies like this one from occurring again in the future.”

Lawyers for others affected by the blast did not respond to requests for comment.