Oil giant BP PLC on Wednesday planned to release the conclusions of its internal investigation into the rig explosion that killed 11 workers and led to the massive Gulf of Mexico spill.

BP was striking first with a detailed report about what it believes went wrong on the Deepwater Horizon on April 20. It comes just days after a key piece of evidence in the explosion was raised to the surface but has not yet been analyzed. It also comes as the blame game heats up in Washington and in the courtroom.

BP was unlikely to place too much onus on itself, given the hundreds of lawsuits and billions of dollars of liabilities it faces. In public hearings, the company has tried to shift some blame to rig owner Transocean Ltd. and cement contractor Halliburton. BP was leasing the rig from Transocean and owned the well that blew out a mile under the Gulf surface, spewing some 206 million gallons of oil into the water over three months.

BP's report is far from the final word on possible causes of the explosion, as several divisions of the U.S. government, including the Justice Department, Coast Guard and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, are also investigating.

Also, a key piece of the puzzle — the blowout preventer that failed to stop the oil from leaking from the well off the Louisiana coast — was raised from the water on Saturday. As of Tuesday afternoon, it had not reached a NASA facility in New Orleans where government investigators planned to analyze it, so those conclusions will not be part of BP's report.

Investigators know the explosion was triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before igniting.

But they don't know exactly how or why the gas escaped. And they don't know why the blowout preventer didn't seal the well pipe at the sea bottom after the eruption, as it was supposed to.

The details of BP's internal report have been closely guarded — and only a short list of people saw it ahead of its release. Mark Bly, BP's group head of safety and operations, compiled the report and said in May that there was a gas plume before the explosion.

"This was a pretty large plume of gas ... I think it was a large enough where there was a high likelihood it would have ignited," he said.

There were other signs of problems, including an unexpected loss of fluid from a pipe known as a riser five hours before the explosion that could have indicated a leak in the blowout preventer.

Witness statements show that rig workers talked just minutes before the blowout about pressure problems in the well.

At first, nobody seemed too worried, workers have said. Then panic set in.

Workers called their bosses to report that the well was "coming in" and that they were "getting mud back." The drilling supervisor, Jason Anderson, tried to shut down the well.

It didn't work. At least two explosions turned the rig into an inferno.

Members of Congress, industry experts and workers who survived the rig explosion have accused BP's engineers of cutting corners to save time and money on a project that was 43 days and more than $20 million behind schedule at the time of the blast.

Will Esposito describes an otherworldly scene after a wildfire tore through a canyon in the Colorado foothills: Some houses in his neighborhood burning while others stood intact, a propane tank shooting flames into the sky, and an eerie quiet interrupted only by firefighting helicopters and airplanes.

"There was something majestic and beautiful about it, although it's terrible that some people lost their homes," Esposito said after he took a clandestine tour on Tuesday.

The 11-square-mile blaze had destroyed at least 92 structures and damaged at least eight others by Tuesday night, Boulder County sheriff's Cmdr. Rick Brough said.

A partial list of property destroyed contained the addresses of 53 homes on a government website Tuesday night. The list was based on a survey of only 5 to 10 percent of the burned area.

No injuries have been reported since the fire broke out on Monday. Officials say the cause is still under investigation.

Authorities said about 3,500 people have been evacuated from about 1,000 homes. Esposito said deputies told him to leave at about 4 p.m. Monday, but he stayed behind to watch, finally driving to Boulder at about 9 p.m.

"It was very desolate. Everybody cleared out," he said. "No one was around at all."

On Tuesday, state troopers blocked roads leading into the evacuation area, letting only firefighters in. Esposito — frustrated by the scant information officials have offered about the destruction — took his mountain bike to a trailhead and rode back in to his neighborhood to see for himself.

"It sends chills through your body a little bit," he said of the scene.

Esposito saw three homes burning on Monday and three more on Tuesday, but his own was unscathed.

"It was very pocketed. Some areas were severely burned and some were not (burned) at all," he said.

Esposito, 27, who works as a bartender in Boulder, said he never felt in danger and kept clear lines of escape in view at all times.

"I never felt foolhardy," he said.

Gov. Bill Ritter, who declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, pleaded with residents to be patient and not try to get back into the area until firefighters tell them it's safe. Brough said that could be two days away.

"It's important right now for people who have been evacuated to just be patient. This is a very volatile situation," the governor said after touring the area. His disaster declaration released $5 million to fight the blaze.

Between 300 and 400 firefighters were on the ground Tuesday and more were arriving, said Laura McConnell, a spokeswoman for the incident management team. Aerial tankers and helicopters dumped thousands of gallons of fire retardant and water in the fire's path, but McConnell had no specifics.

Crews managed to save the historic town of Gold Hill, including an Old West grocery store and structures once used for stagecoach stops.

Though westerly dry winds that spread the blaze Monday had eased Tuesday, authorities would not say whether fire lines had been established or speak about the prospect of containing the fire.

"There's no information about anything. ... I am so frustrated," said Ronda Plywaski, who fled her home with her husband and their two German shepherds and spent the night at an evacuation center at the University of Colorado. "I just want to know if my house is OK."

Authorities were trying to figure out what caused a failure in an alert system designed to automatically call the homes of residents under evacuation orders. Officials said the system successfully sent out eight rounds of calls but failed on two.

Barb Halpin, a Boulder County spokeswoman, said the failures happened later in the afternoon when other areas outside the immediate vicinity of the fire were being alerted.

"It's unfortunate that those callouts failed," Halpin said. "We don't know the reason. Obviously, we're investigating," she said.

Halpin said that sheriff's deputies went to the areas where the notifications failed to knock on people's doors and tell them to evacuate.

Residents gathered Tuesday at a mountain overlook to watch the yellowish-brown haze. One of them, Kirk Parker, sipped a beer on the tailgate of his Nissan pickup and spotted the roof of his home with binoculars. It wasn't on fire.

"I think we're safe," Parker said.

David Myers started hearing from people Tuesday afternoon that they think his house was destroyed. He said while he's sure he will experience "a varied level of emotions" about losing it, he remembers how he felt when fleeing the wildfire.

"All that really matters to us was my wife and I getting each other, getting the dogs, and getting out of there," Myers said. "We grabbed a couple of things, but when we look around, and we go, 'What should I take?' it all seems pretty irrelevant."

The peanut industry executive whose filthy processing plants were blamed in a salmonella outbreak two years ago that killed nine people and sickened hundreds more is back in the business.

Stewart Parnell, former president of the now-bankrupt Peanut Corp. of America, is working as a consultant to peanut companies as the federal government's criminal investigation against him has languished for more than 18 months, The Associated Press has learned.

Parnell, who invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying before Congress in February 2009, once directed employees to "turn them loose" after samples of peanuts had tested positive for salmonella and then were cleared in a second test, according to e-mails uncovered at the time by congressional investigators.

In an interview with the AP, Parnell expressed exasperation and said he wants the pending criminal investigation resolved — one way or another.

"They just say we're still investigating," Parnell said. "I feel like I wish they'd come on and do what they're going to do. I'd like to get this behind me."

Parnell also said he has been directed by his lawyers not to discuss his case with family members of the nine people who died in the salmonella outbreak blamed on his processed peanuts.

"My lawyers will not let me say anything or I'd be in front of every one of them personally," Parnell said.

Family members of some of the victims who died say they are eager to see Parnell behind bars.

"My God, when are we going to hold anyone responsible?" said Jeff Almer, whose mother, Shirley Almer, was the first known death from the outbreak in Minnesota. "So far to this day, nothing's happened to this man. I think every person in America who was affected by this, every family who lost someone, deserves to hear the truth from this guy."

A federal judge in Virginia earlier this month approved a $12 million insurance settlement for Almer's family and more than 100 other salmonella victims.

Randy Napier's mother died in Ohio after eating peanut butter linked to Parnell's peanuts.

"He's still walking the streets almost two years later, whereas my mother is lying 6 feet under," Napier said. "It's just not fair. If the (Food and Drug Administration) does not go after Stewart Parnell, the message they are sending to the industry is don't worry about it, ship it. He should not be anywhere near the food industry."

There is nothing illegal about Parnell's return to the food industry since the FDA's criminal investigation has yet to bring any charges against him or his associates. The FDA referred questions about the case to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.

FDA inspectors found remarkably bad conditions inside Parnell's processing plant in Blakely, Ga., linked to the salmonella outbreak, including mold and roaches.

Parnell's lawyer, William Gust, says Parnell's consulting began when Lynchburg, Va.-based Peanut Corp. of America sold its peanut-making equipment after filing bankruptcy. Investors who bought the equipment asked for Parnell's advice about where to resell it, and he has advised peanut companies too, brokering equipment sales. One company he has consulted for is Citation Snack Processors in Greensboro, N.C.

Parnell said he isn't paid for the consulting, though his lawyer said he is "trying to earn a living" with the work.

"He has been in the business a long time, a lot of people know him, not withstanding the salmonella issue," Gust said. "This salmonella issue has basically destroyed his whole family."

It's unclear why the government probe has taken so long or whether it is still in the hands of the FDA or the Justice Department, which would prosecute the case. The FDA traditionally conducts investigations and then hands such cases over to Justice Department prosecutors.

Parnell's legal limbo comes amid a congressional debate over a bill that would give the FDA more power and more money to inspect food manufacturers, trace illnesses back to their source and take action against unscrupulous food manufacturers. The House passed the bill last year, but the legislation has stalled in the Senate and few measures are expected to be signed into law before the November elections.