Local builder injured in Williston explosion

Whitefish building contractor Casey Malmquist was severely burned after a house he was working on in Williston, N.D., exploded on Monday, July 8, around 6:30 p.m.

Malmquist was flown to the Regions Hospital burn center in St. Paul, Minn., where he was being treated for second and third degree burns, according to Janene Adams, office manager at Malmquist Construction.

Williston Rural Fire Chief Dave Benth said the cause of the explosion is under investigation but is believed to be propane related.

Malmquist was working on the house about seven miles west of Williston and was on the back deck when the explosion occurred. Neighbors told Benth the initial blast caused the windows of the home to blow out. They called 911 after seeing Malmquist collapse outside the home. The recently constructed home was fully engulfed in flames when emergency crews arrived.

“The whole basement was engulfed in flames, and flames were coming out of the windows,” Benth said.

Whitefish-based Malmquist Construction is well known in the Flathead and has built numerous high-end homes. One home the company built on Whitefish Lake was owned by Dave Lesar, chairman, president and CEO of Halliburton Energy Services, which is active in the Bakken oil fields near Williston.

Malmquist became a partner with Lesar in some real estate holdings in Whitefish. As the economy moved into a severe recession in 2008 and construction in the Flathead nose-dived, the North Dakota economy continued to grow with the oil boom. Lesar asked Malmquist to help out with the housing shortage in the Williston area.

Crews with Malmquist Construction have been in the Bakken area for more than two years building houses and apartment buildings for oil field workers. Malmquist spent about a week each month in Williston and had five project managers and numerous subcontractors working on homes.

Malmquist was also the general manager of SmartLam, the new manufacturing business located at Western Building Center in Columbia Falls. The company last year purchased specialized equipment from Germany that takes low-grade lumber from local mills and turns it into 11-by-40-foot cross-laminated panels used for “rig mats” in the petroleum industry.

In June, the Columbia Falls City Council learned that SmartLam had been awarded a $400,000 economic development block grant by the Montana Department of Commerce. Malmquist had told the city council in March that demand for SmartLam’s cross-laminated panels far exceeded production. The block grant could be used to install a second manufacturing line.

Malmquist grew up in northern Minnesota and moved out west at 17. He worked in the Utah ski industry during winters and in construction during summers. He moved his family to Whitefish in 1994.

He recently married Natalie Johnson, who grew up on a large grain farm near Noonan, N.D. The couple bought a 20-acre ranch property with an indoor riding arena on Columbia Falls Stage Road in September 2011. Natalie has been operating the full-care boarding facility for horses under the name Canter Creek since last year.