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Fire Feb 15, 2024
| Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Fire Department
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A pressurized cylinder explosion resulted in multiple firefighter casualties in Wilmington on Thursday.
The incident occurred shortly before 7 a.m. in the vicinity of Alameda Street and Henry Ford Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Reports from the scene indicated as many as seven firefighters were injured, with three in critical condition at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.
Firefighters responded to a call about a truck with cylinders ablaze. The fire department initially said the incident appeared to involve a tank on a fire engine, but it was later confirmed to be pressurized fuel tanks compressed natural gas on a truck.
“There are two 100-gallon tanks on that vehicle, one of which exploded while our firefighters were putting out the fire,” LAFD Capt. Erik Scott told reporters.
“That explosion was significant,” Scott said. “The ball of flame was as high as telephone poles, and it did explode one of the (power) transformers nearby.”
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
As reported by KTLA, ABC7 and Los Cerritos Community News
