QuickZ06
07-30-2013, 12:02 AM
Hope everyone is ok :(
TAVARES, Fla. — A series of explosions rocked a Blue Rhino tank facility on Monday night.
The explosions began a little before 11 p.m. at Blue Rhino, a propane tank-exchange business. The company is based in Winston-Salem.
A deputy told The Orlando Sentinel that someone may have been filling a propane tank with a leak and a spark ignited, but that information is preliminary.
Residents described sounds similar to a shotgun or fireworks and saw bursts of light and a bright orange glow above the treetops, they said.
Passers-by said thousands of 30-foot-high propane tanks loaded on pallets continued to explode every minute or two as of 11:25 p.m.
All the explosions happened inside the plant, blowing the roof off, Lake County Sheriff Gary Borders said.
"I heard a loud bomb 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."
Five helicopters landed at LakeTech Institute of Public Safety, according to public-safety scanner transmissions. They took patients to Lakeland Regional Medical Center, St. Joseph Medical Center in Ocala, Orlando Regional Medical Center and Tampa General Hospital. At least six ambulances could be seen.
The Lake County Medical Examiner also has been notified.
Blue Rhino was founded in 1994 in Winston-Salem by Billy Prim and Andrew 'Flip' Filipowski. The company went public in 1998.
Ferrellgas of Overland Park, Kan., bought Blue Rhino for $343 million in April 2004, but kept Blue Rhino's administration, customer service, sales, global sourcing, and marketing functions here.
Blue Rhino Corp. said last week it was solidifying its Forsyth County roots by leasing 200,000 square feet of distribution space in Rural Hall.
The company has 65 local employees in Forysth County.
http://www.journalnow.com/business/business_news/local/article_a21750ba-f8cc-11e2-b12a-0019bb30f31a.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxUqidioSso
TAVARES, Fla. — A series of explosions rocked a Blue Rhino tank facility on Monday night.
The explosions began a little before 11 p.m. at Blue Rhino, a propane tank-exchange business. The company is based in Winston-Salem.
A deputy told The Orlando Sentinel that someone may have been filling a propane tank with a leak and a spark ignited, but that information is preliminary.
Residents described sounds similar to a shotgun or fireworks and saw bursts of light and a bright orange glow above the treetops, they said.
Passers-by said thousands of 30-foot-high propane tanks loaded on pallets continued to explode every minute or two as of 11:25 p.m.
All the explosions happened inside the plant, blowing the roof off, Lake County Sheriff Gary Borders said.
"I heard a loud bomb 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."
Five helicopters landed at LakeTech Institute of Public Safety, according to public-safety scanner transmissions. They took patients to Lakeland Regional Medical Center, St. Joseph Medical Center in Ocala, Orlando Regional Medical Center and Tampa General Hospital. At least six ambulances could be seen.
The Lake County Medical Examiner also has been notified.
Blue Rhino was founded in 1994 in Winston-Salem by Billy Prim and Andrew 'Flip' Filipowski. The company went public in 1998.
Ferrellgas of Overland Park, Kan., bought Blue Rhino for $343 million in April 2004, but kept Blue Rhino's administration, customer service, sales, global sourcing, and marketing functions here.
Blue Rhino Corp. said last week it was solidifying its Forsyth County roots by leasing 200,000 square feet of distribution space in Rural Hall.
The company has 65 local employees in Forysth County.
http://www.journalnow.com/business/business_news/local/article_a21750ba-f8cc-11e2-b12a-0019bb30f31a.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxUqidioSso