An explosion at a U.S. Steel plant near Pittsburgh left two dead and sent at least 10 to hospitals on Monday (August 11, 2025) and heavily damaged the sprawling facility, officials said.
One worker was pulled from the wreckage hours after the explosion sent black smoke spiraling into the midday sky in the Mon Valley, a region of the state synonymous with steel for more than a century. Allegheny County Emergency Services said a fire at the plant started around 10.51 a.m. Authorities later said a second person had died.
The explosion, followed by several smaller blasts, could be felt in the nearby community and prompted county officials to warn residents to stay away from the scene so emergency workers could respond.
“It felt like thunder,” Zachary Buday, a construction worker near the scene, told WTAE-TV. “Shook the scaffold, shook my chest, and shook the building, and then when we saw the dark smoke coming up from the steel mill and put two and two together, and it's like something bad happened.”
Cause under investigation
