Explosives Bunker Was On State Land Without Lease

The Forks-area explosives storage site that detonated, killing one teen and critically injuring another, was operated on state land without a required lease, say Department of Natural Resources officials.

John Calhoun, DNR manager of the Olympic region, said Monday night's thunderous blast at a gravel pit about 10 miles south of Forks was the first notice his agency had that the magazine was there.

The state Department of Labor and Industries inspected and licensed the facility in April, but apparently did not notify the DNR, the landowner.

"We were not aware of the existence of a written agreement," Calhoun said. "And we haven't found one in our records. I can only assume that the (Labor and Industries) inspector thought it was located there with the landowner's permission. Technically, it was trespassing."

The Winney Construction Co. of Forks, which has been operating in the area since at least the 1970s, likely would have received the Department of Natural Resources' approval had it applied, Calhoun said.

The storage site was detonated by a shot from a high-powered rifle fired by Dennis Lee Perkon, 19, investigators say.

The huge blast tore off Perkon's right leg; he is in serious condition today at Harborview Medical Center with severe internal injuries. His companion, Joel Dannemiller, 17, was killed instantly.

The magazine, authorities say, contained about 1,000 pounds of dynamite and highly explosive ammonium nitrate.

Investigators from the Clallam County Sheriff's Department, Department of Labor and Industries, Department of Natural Resources and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms reviewed the scene yesterday.

Undersheriff Joe Martin said debris from the blast reportedly fell 10 miles away.

Some observers of the scene said they were awed by the devastation.

"Worst I've seen, and I've been doing this since 1984," said Morris Payne, an investigator with the Explosives Division of the Labor and Industries Department. "It turned the ground into nothing."

Calhoun said tree tops had been sheared, the magazine has been reduced to rubble, and bits of the victims' clothing were scattered across hundreds of yards. "The scope of destruction was staggering."

Investigators believe the two teens parked their truck on a ridge of gravel above the large magazine. While Dannemiller remained in the cab, Perkon shot at the storehouse, 130 feet away.

The storage shed was inspected and approved by a Labor and Industries Department official April 2 to hold as much as 5 tons of explosives. In its application, Winney Construction said it was storing the explosives for logging, quarry and surface-mining work.

An official of the company, which operates in Clallam and Jefferson counties, refused comment yesterday, but Labor and Industries spokesman Brian Dirks said the family-owned outfit had an excellent record.

The Department of Labor and Industries regulates the purchase, sale, storage and use of explosives. It uses an extensive list of regulations and state statutes to govern how explosives are stored. For instance, magazines must be kept a certain distance from roads, buildings and other public facilities.

There are 900 to 1,000 magazines licensed and scattered throughout the state, Dirks said. Their capacity ranges from one stick of dynamite to 300,000 pounds of explosives. Most are portable enough to be transported from job to job.

Ted Price, deputy supervisor in charge of field operations for the Department of Natural Resources, said there is no record of other magazines being stored by contractors on public-trust lands.

Calhoun said he was concerned there may be other unknown storage sites. DNR staffers yesterday were checking over the 365,000 acres in the department's Olympic region.

Most of the magazines are in King, Thurston, Snohomish and Spokane counties, and almost all are in remote areas, Dirks said. The exceptions mainly consist of law-enforcement evidence lockers, he said.

The exploding magazine was about 10 feet long by 8 feet wide and 6 feet high. It was required to be "bullet-resistant" and was built to state regulations, including a quarter-inch steel casing and two padlocks.

It also was required to be clearly marked as containing dangerous explosives, a regulation met at least during the state's inspection, Dirks said.

"Investigators had no evidence the signs were or were not posted at the time of the accident so far," Dirks said.

Perkon was born and raised in Forks and had just graduated from high school, said his grandmother, Eileen. He has been working as a roofer.