Food truck explosion in Whittier injures five people; authorities are investigating

5 individuals have been injured, two critically, in an explosion Saturday morning at a meals truck in a well-liked eating and buying space of Whittier, in accordance with authorities.

Eleven models of firefighters and paramedics have been dispatched at 9:17 a.m. to the 6700 block of Greenleaf Avenue, stated Martin Rangel, supervising fireplace dispatcher on the Los Angeles County Fireplace Division.

“There was an explosion of some sort” however no fireplace when first responders arrived on the scene at 9:21, he stated.

Whittier Police Division is investigating the circumstances across the incident and have been anticipated to report the case to Cal/OSHA.

Rangel stated it was more than likely a propane tank explosion. Whittier police officers weren’t instantly out there for remark.

The Nationwide Fireplace Safety Assn. says that 68% of meals truck fires are associated to leaks or structural failures in propane tanks. Because the meals truck enterprise has grown over time, there have been periodic occurrences of propane-related accidents, essentially the most infamous in the summertime of 2014 when an explosion and ensuing fireplace of a meals truck in Philadelphia claimed the lives of the truck proprietor and her daughter and injured 11 others.

Meals truck explosions and fires are uncommon in California, which has a few of the strictest laws governing the protection of cell meals operations, in accordance with specialists.

Greater than 2,700 meals vans and trailers function in Los Angeles County, stated Matt Geller, head of the Southern California Cellular Meals Distributors Assn. Geller wasn’t conscious of the Whittier meals truck explosion. He stated it didn’t seem that the truck operator was a member of his affiliation.

“It’s a fairly uncommon occasion,” Geller stated, noting that the final meals truck fireplace that he may recall was 10 years in the past in Venice. On the identical time, he stated, “we’ve a whole lot of previous vans.”

The 5 who have been injured Saturday in Whittier have been apparently crew members of the meals truck, stated Rangel. They have been handled on web site and transported to a hospital, with two having suffered important accidents, two with average accidents and one with a minor harm, Rangel stated.

He didn’t have particulars of the meals enterprise or the proprietor of the truck, however some working in neighboring outlets stated it was associated to a espresso enterprise the place the truck was parked, within the a part of the city generally known as Uptown Whittier.

Video photographs confirmed a small part of Greenleaf Avenue was cordoned off Saturday, however by noon, the road was clear, stated individuals in close by companies.