Editorial: Clairton Coke Works explosion is moment of calm in partisan storm

Partisanship is what happens in the quiet spaces between calamity.

When trains are derailing or cars are crashing, there is no question of affiliation. When a building is burning, no one asks how the firefighters voted. When a hurricane smashes against the shore, Democrats and Republicans and those who have never picked a side are all at risk.

Sure, partisanship will rush back in like flood waters the moment response shifts to recovery. The calm is always too short-lived. But we know that the division is the most unnecessary part of our lives because it is the first thing to disappear in a crisis.

On Tuesday, U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works proved that.

The first of three explosions at the Allegheny County plant happened at 10:47 a.m. It wasn’t just something that could be heard. The geyser of black smoke erupting from the mill was clearly visible and caught on video by the Breathe Project’s cameras. The subsequent explosions were about an hour later.

What came next was where everything else becomes unimportant.

It was searching and rescuing. It was rapid response to get the injured to medical help, including UPMC Mercy’s trauma and burn center. It was realizing someone was missing and someone died. It was warning the people of Clairton to stay in their homes and protect their lungs out of an abundance of caution.

It was realizing that the impacted were not just those who were hurt but those who worked with them and those who lived in Clairton.

“We’re just worried about our people,” said Bill Farrier, president of the Clairton United Steelworkers local.

Just a day earlier, TribLive featured a story about how steelworkers are finding their way forward in the aftermath of the Nippon Steel-U.S. Steel deal that spent more than a year in limbo as elected officials from both parties had issues with national security implications.

But while the United Steelworkers International opposed the sale, local steelworkers in Pittsburgh supported it as a promise for the future.

Politically, it was a rare moment where elected officials like U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale; U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock; U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Squirrel Hill; and Democrats Gov. Josh Shapiro and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato were all on the same page. Their public releases didn’t just sing from the same hymn book. They sang in the same concerned, supportive key.

That is so important, not just in a “thoughts and prayers” kind of public relations way. In the worst moments, it’s vital to feel like the words are genuine. The politicians and the union members may all be back sniping at each other soon enough, just not right now. Tomorrow, maybe. Next week, almost definitely.

But in the moments when people needed help, support and comfort, that is what they received.

That is how we know that it is possible to push back on the ugliness and division. If we can do it in the hardest times, it’s possible the rest of the time.