Bellefonte business, Clinton County Speedway sued after driver is severely burned
A sprint car driver who was severely burned during a race has sued a Bellefonte-based fire safety contractor, claiming a fire extinguisher inspected by the company failed as track crews tried to put out the flames.
Steven Kenawell Jr. alleged Swartz Fire & Safety Equipment negligently certified a fire extinguisher at Clinton County Speedway months before the September race, leaving it depressurized and inoperable when he caught fire.
After the failed discharge, Kenawell’s attorney said critical seconds were lost while personnel searched for a working fire extinguisher. Kenawell, according to the suit, was engulfed in flames for at least 36 seconds.
About 17% of his body was severely burned, his attorney wrote.
Swartz declined immediate comment when reached Wednesday by the Centre Daily Times. A message left with Clinton County Speedway, which is also listed as a defendant, was not immediately returned.
A photograph included in the lawsuit, which the attorney said was taken immediately after the fire, showed a pressure gauge pointing to the recharge zone. The extinguisher had last been inspected in April, about five months before the fire.
The lawsuit claimed the extinguisher had already lost a substantial amount of internal pressure before the inspection and, by certifying it, Swartz gave the Speedway “false assurance that its fire safety equipment was operational.”
“The most fundamental step in any fire extinguisher inspection — and the very first item on any standard inspection checklist — is to visually verify that the pressure gauge needle is in the ‘operable’ or ‘green’ range,” attorney Brendan B. Lupetin wrote. “This is not a complex or technical procedure. It requires nothing more than looking at the gauge face and confirming that the needle points to the green zone rather than the red ‘RECHARGE’ zone.”
According to the lawsuit, sprint cars competing at the Clinton County Speedway are fueled with methanol — a highly flammable, alcohol-based fuel that burns with a nearly invisible flame during daylight.
A graphic video posted to Facebook shows Kenawell, of Blair County, rolling repeatedly in an unsuccessful attempt to smother the flames. A page on the fundraising website GoFundMe said Kenawell was hospitalized in a burn unit for eight days.
The page, which raised more than $5,000, said Kenawell would be “out of work for a long time while he navigates a long and painful recovery.”
“The thoughts, prayers, and love that have been sent Stevie’s way have been absolutely incredible, and we want to thank everyone and ask that you continue to keep him in your prayers,” his mother Amy Kenawell wrote.
The lawsuit includes two counts of negligence and seeks more than $50,000 on each count.