(USNewsBreak.com) – Firefighters train to deal with a multitude of situations. Quick thinking is a must, especially as things can often turn on a dime when a fire becomes involved, but sometimes, even the best training can’t prepare them for a volatile incident. In Los Angeles, an explosion recently injured several firefighters as they attempted to put out a fire involving a semi.
The incident happened on Thursday, February 15, in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles. Several firefighters responded to calls of a semi-truck on fire. As they tried to battle the blaze, the tractor, which didn’t have an attached cargo trailer, exploded. Video footage of the event showed what the Los Angeles Times described as 30-foot plumes into the air.
BREAKING: HAZMAT units dispatched to the site of a truck explosion that resulted in injuries of multiple Los Angeles firefighters.
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) February 15, 2024
Sadly, the explosion injured at least nine firefighters who were working on the blaze. First responders transported all of them to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center to receive treatment for various injuries, including blunt force trauma, shrapnel injuries, burns, and hearing problems. Doctors released most the same day but admitted two to the hospital with critical injuries. Of those, the hospital released one firefighter the following day.
However, one firefighter still remained hospitalized in the burn unit of the intensive care unit at the Los Angeles General Medical Center on February 17. Medical staff had placed him on a ventilator, but they’ve since removed him. In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Los Angeles Fire Department Public Information Officer Erik Scott noted on Saturday that the man was “awake, alert and talking.”
The semi in question was a clean-air vehicle that ran on natural gas, with two 100-gallon tanks powering it. Because they were under more than 3,000 pounds of pressure, their rupture triggered an enormous blast. Many residents reported feeling the effects of the explosion, including some who thought it was an earthquake. Hazardous material teams remained on site throughout the day and reported no impact on air quality.
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