In Los Angeles, a natural gas-powered truck carrying a natural gas tank exploded yesterday, Thursday February 15th, morning. Several firefighters who reported to the scene have reported injuries and two are being hospitalized in critical condition. The explosion was in the LA neighborhood of Wilmington between Alameda Street and North Henry Ford Avenue. It occurred shortly before 7 a.m.
Firefighters were called to the scene with reports of cylinders that were on the truck which were on fire. The concern was very high given these cylinders were believed to be filled with natural gas. As we now know, they were in fact filled with natural gas.
The Captain of the Los Angeles Fire Department held a press conference to discuss the incident later the same morning.
In the press conference, Captain Erik Scott stated that the truck held two 100-gallon tanks of compressed natural gas. While firefighters were on the scene, fighting to put out the fire, one of the tanks exploded. Scott said, “That explosion was significant. The ball of flame was a high as telephone poles, and it did explode one of the [power] transformers nearby.”
Shortly after this press conference was held, the Chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, Kristin Crowley, held a second conference. This conference was held just before noon and in this conference Chief Crowley advised there was no longer a threat and that the fire was contained.
Photos were captured showing the debris in which you can see scorched bits of big rig and firefighting gear.
After the explosion, the firefighters who were injured in the explosion were immediately put into triage care and received treatment on the scene. Once they were stable, they were transferred to the nearest hospital. When in the hospital, two were deemed in critical condition. With the two in critical condition, nine firefighters in total were admitted to the hospital. One of the two in critical condition had to be airlifted to the Los Angeles General Medical Center, as they are one of the few burn center units in the area.
The noncritical condition patients were treated for varying levels of injury. Four were treated for moderate injuries and three were treated for minor injuries. Several who witnessed the scene and/or administered treatment to the firefighters stated that it is miraculous that the injuries were not even more severe. The truck driver was able to escape the blast uninjured.
