A large series of explosions rocked a gas plant in Lake County late Monday, causing multiple casualties and forcing the evacuations of residents at least a mile away, authorities said.
About two dozen people were working the night shift at Blue Rhino, a propane-tank business. By 2 a.m. Tuesday, all employees were accounted for, said Lt. John Herrell, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
There were no reports of fatalities, Herrell said. At least seven people were taken to hospitals, he said.
“As tragic as it started out to be, it’s looking like a better situation,” Tavares Mayor Robert Wolfe said.
Three men were flown to Orlando Regional Medical Center in critical condition with burns, a hospital spokeswoman said.
One man was in stable condition at Ocala Regional Medical Center. Three patients went to Florida Hospital Waterman, Herrell said.
The first explosions began a little before 11 p.m. at Blue Rhino, 300 County Road 448, and lasted for more than half an hour. The blasts began again about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday in tractor-trailers loaded with pallets of propane tanks, Tavares Fire Chief Richard Keith said.
The plant had about 53,000 20-pound propane cylinders on site, and nearly all were thought to have exploded, said Joyce Ross, a Tavares city spokeswoman.
There is “no indication whatsoever” how the fire or explosions started, he said.
“I heard loud boom sounds,” said Lisa Garner, 43, who lives in Lakeside, a Tavares subdivision near county roads 461 and 448. “I thought somebody ran into my house.”
The first blasts happened inside the plant, blowing the roof off, Lake County Sheriff Gary Borders said. After the second round, Tavares Fire Chief Richard Keith pulled his firefighters out for fear that they would be injured.
The Lake County Medical Examiner also was notified.
When the second round of explosions began close to midnight, and the fire spread to another part of the plant, Herrell said, fire officials had to pull their crews back a bit.
The giant flames had subsided a bit by 1 a.m., when Herrell met with reporters about a mile from the plant.
“At this point, the fire personnel are doing what they can…their main concern is containing this fire, containing this scene,” Herrell said, adding that fire officials believed the fire was “contained” shortly after 1 a.m.
Herrell said at least 200 fire rescue, EMS and law enforcement officers from various law enforcement agencies.
“It’s a very dangerous scene,” Herrell said, adding that there were no reports of injuries among the first responders. “All I know in speaking with the fire chief is they have to proceed very cautiously.”
Family members of workers were encouraged to go to the Lake Tech Institute of Public Safety on Lane Park Cutoff in Tavares.
Residents described sounds similar to a shotgun or fireworks and saw bursts of light and a bright orange glow above the treetops, they said. Some reported a “giant fireball” in the sky.
The sight of flames was reported more than five miles away. The vibrations could be felt as far away as Mount Dora.