A state fire official said Monday that it may be several weeks before information is publicly available on the cause of an explosion in Picabo last week that killed Carey resident Craig Adamson.
Deputy State Fire Marshal Ivan Hibbert said the investigation is ongoing.
The explosion occurred Wednesday, Feb. 2, at about 2:30 p.m. Adamson, 53, whose family owns Adamson's Inc. fuel distribution company, was transferring fuel between a tanker and a farm delivery truck on Picabo Livestock property. A trailer attached to the tanker ignited for as-yet-unknown reasons, causing the explosion.
Lee Andreas, a resident of Firth, Idaho, and an Adamson's company employee, was caught between the two trucks and was knocked down by the explosion, but was not injured.
Adamson was on top of the trailer at the time and was killed instantly.
Dennis Patterson, Adamson's brother-in-law and a Wood River Fire & Rescue paramedic, said Adamson was a fixture in the community.
"There's going to be a big hole in Carey that can never be filled," he said. "He was a mover and a shaker and an Idaho man."
Adamson was emergency medical services chief of the Carey Quick Response Unit, and was partially responsible for forming that team in 1981. Patterson said Adamson also administered state emergency medical services tests and was a qualified instructor in farm rescue, vehicle extraction and emergency medical services.
Patterson said Adamson could always be counted on to help in an emergency.
"I was one of Craig's patients," he said. "I fell off my roof one day and I immediately thought that Craig would be able to help me—and he did."
Adamson served on the Carey City Council for nine years.
"There was never any doubt about where he stood," Mayor Randy Patterson said. "He had pretty poignant feelings about things, and he wasn't afraid to share them."
Adamson was also a fixture at his family's convenience store and fuel station in Carey. He managed the hardware section and, Randy Patterson said, fielded questions about city issues at the same time.
"If people had questions, they'd go down to the store and chew on his ear for a bit," he said.
Adamson was laid to rest in the Carey Cemetery on Monday, accompanied by an honor guard from the Jerome City Fire Department. The service was held at the Carey Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which Adamson was an active member.
The service Monday was followed by a procession to the cemetery, with units from Carey Rural Fire Department, the Sun Valley Fire Department, the Ketchum Fire Department, Wood River Fire & Rescue and the Friedman Memorial Airport fire team escorting Adamson's body down Main Street in Carey.
Adamson is survived by his wife, Betty, their seven children and five grandchildren. He is also survived by his parents and five siblings.
Randy Patterson said Adamson was dedicated to helping the people and the community of Carey, and would be missed.
"He's just a person who, if someone needed help, he'd drop everything and be there," Patterson said.
Katherine Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.
Craig Adamson Photo by Willy Cook
