A near - disaster was averted in the city this evening by the quick response of the Fire Department. A butane tank exploded in a two story house on the east - side of Mahogany Street - right across the street from Brown's Butane Depot. Here is the video of the massive explosion - captured from a grocery store across the street. A bicycle rider is passing, and just as he gets past the house…BOOM…you can see the gate and the door violently flung across the street. One or two seconds later, and that bicycle rider would have been blasted as well.
The tank exploded in the lower flat of the house - and all the doors were blown off the building. They landed 30 feet away, while the gate landed 15 feet away. The only person at home - an adult male - was also blown out of the house - while two neighbors were injured by debris. Residents say he was seen crawling out of the bushes - and is reported to have significant injuries. Police rushed him to the KHMH.
The Fire department says because the tank was locked up in a confined space, it intensified the power of the blast. One of the walls of the home was knocked down - while another had a partial collapse. The windows on the neighbor's car were also shattered and the fence is about to collapse.
Again, a very massive blast - and it's fortunate, first, that no one is dead -, second, that the fire that followed did not jump across the street to Brown's Butane. The fire is believed to have been caused because the man in the house was cooking.
Now a fire at that location is a huge risk because of the thousands of gallons of Liquid Petroleum Gas which are just sitting in storage at the Depot - again, just across the street from the site of the fire. It's a highly dangerous situation - but, the good news is that the fire was brought under control before it could pose any threat to Brown's Depot.
Our 7News team has a unique perspective on the fire - because we were at the fire department doing another interview when they got the call - and we'll have the full story from the fire station to the fire scene for you tomorrow.
But, tonight, thankfully the fire was safely brought under control. One man is injured but we don't know the extent of the injuries at this time. We do know that in 2009 someone was killed when a butane tank exploded a few feet away from today's explosion at the corner of Mopan and Mahogany Streets.
We should note that many years ago, municipal planners and safety experts agreed that all butane depots in residential neighborhoods were safety hazards and would have to be moved. But, Brown's which has been at that location for decades was permitted to remain, likely as a grandfather clause exception.
And, in an update to our headline story, Police have released the names of three persons injured in the residential blast at 4:15 pm - and one of them is critical.
35 year old Lisa Santos, Nurse Assistant of 14 Saint Jude Street received burns to her body, 56 year old June Tench, also of 14 Saint Jude Street was suffering from minor burns to her body, while 21 year old Grayson Cadle from the Corner Mahogany and Mopan Street was seen with burns to the lower part of his body.
Here's what police say happened: Cadle was inside his bedroom in the house, when the explosion occurred, followed by a fire. June Tench and Lisa Santos were sitting in their yard nearby when they sustained injuries to their body due to the debris flying from the explosion.
Cadle is listed in a critical but stable condition. Again, we'll have more on this tomorrow.
