Richard Lattanzi started his morning on Aug. 11 getting ready to take his father to his doctor’s appointment at Jefferson Hospital on Coal Valley Road in nearby Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania.

Within hours, the hospital would receive trauma victims from a series of explosions at the U.S. Steel Clairton Coke Works. The former steelworker and mayor of Clairton for the past 16 years would stand in front of the plant, comforting members of the community and waiting for word on how many men had lost their lives that day.

Lattanzi proudly said that Clairton has been his home his entire life, a statement everyone who lives here through good times and bad will repeat without pause.

“I worked in the mill for 30 years,” he says, pointing toward the Irvin Works, 5 miles down the Monongahela River. It’s part of the three plants, including the Edgar Thomson Works Plant in Braddock, that comprise the U.S. Steel Mon Valley Works family, which has built this country for over 150 years.

The region’s identity with steel is profound. It’s in their culture; hundreds of large and small companies have steel in their names. Steel means hard work, their legacy of building things with their hands. It is in the region’s sports. The skyline of Pittsburgh is home to U.S. Steel’s headquarters, the tallest building in Appalachia.

Lattanzi was at Jefferson Hospital around 10:30 a.m. in the parking lot getting out of his vehicle when he got an alert on his phone.

“My dad has a walker, and I get a 911 alert for an ambulance call. And it said something to the effect that all emergency vehicles dispatch to 400 State Street, which is the mill. It was probably two, three minutes later that I got a text from one of my constituents saying, ‘Hey, mayor, there was some type of loud explosion, maybe from the mill, but my house just shook,'” he said.

Soon, scores of phone calls and texts flooded his phone.

“Everybody knew that it wasn’t just an explosion, that it was something bad. And then I saw that shortly after that, they basically said something about catastrophic or casualties, and they need all units there,” he said.

His father and he switched duties, with his father dropping him off at the plant.

“I jumped in my vehicle. You could hear ambulances, fire trucks and emergency vehicles from all over Allegheny County. I mean, it was a heck of a show. There were so many emergency vehicles down there. It was unbelievable,” he explained.

Online, prayers were offered not just from the community but also from Pittsburgh. The workers at the other plants at Edgar Thomson and Irvin Works all started prayer lines. Pretty soon, the entire country was waiting for news, any news, as to what the situation was and how bad the casualties were.

In 2010, 20 people were injured during maintenance work that led to an explosion.

Last year, data compiled by World Steel showed 67 fatalities in the industry globally, the lowest on record. The steel industry is making significant strides in safety. However, the goal of zero harm for employees and contractors is the standard for an industry that carries significant risk to workers who deal with extreme heat, heavy equipment and chemicals every day to improve our lives.

That worldwide number of 67 for 2024 is significantly lower than what used to occur in the industry; in one year alone, between 1906 and 1907, 195 steelworkers died in work accidents here in Allegheny County.

Lattanzi worked the line as a steelworker for 30 years at the Irvin Works in nearby West Mifflin. The 61-year-old mayor said he loved the job and the city he governs because of everything it stands for.

“Clairton has always been a mill town, and the mill was the reason why the city of Clairton was built for the mill workers and the bosses. The mill has always been a good community partner,” he said.

Lattanzi said Clairton is a true American city.

“It was built on the backs of hardworking men and women who took a risk every day coming into the plant. We were reminded of that risk today, and we should remember those workers as unsung heroes.”