UPDATE:
An explosion in the back of a pickup truck at the Clewiston Holiday Inn parking lot sent a man to the hospital. Fox 4’s Hendry County Community Correspondent, Austin Schargorodski, works in the area daily, so he went to talk to Clewiston’s Fire Chief about what happened.
Watch Austin's report here...
In hotel surveillance video - you could see the man working in the back of his truck when suddenly, the explosion knocks him off his feet. The day after, yo could see the truck still in the parking lot with the roof of the bed topper blown out.
Fire Chief Travis Reese told me they started getting calls around five Wednesday afternoon from people who heard the explosion. “When fire crews responded, they found an adult male in the lobby that had sustained injuries to his torso and face, and had difficulty hearing and seeing,” said Reese.
Reese said the blast caused severe injuries, including burns and impact wounds, so the man was airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach. I reached out the the hospital for an update, but since the man’s name hasn’t been released, they couldn’t share any info.
However, Reese explained the man was in town to work on a fire suppression system at a nearby warehouse and was staying at the hotel. Reese said he was using the back of his truck to run inventory on fire suppression detonators called “squibs”.
“Individually, they’re powerful enough to hurt maybe your hand. But, the particular explosion that happened here, there was about 147 according to the manifest that may have been in the container when it exploded. So, it was quite severe. The blast could be heard from several blocks around as we were getting calls,” said Reese.
Reese says this kind of accident is rare since these systems are usually very stable and widely used in aircrafts and hotels. During the investigation, crews found some undetonated fragments, so Reese said a bomb squad was called in to safely set them off.
“We’re just thankful that nobody else was hurt, and we’re wishing for his speedy recovery,” said Reese.
As soon as we get an update on the man’s condition, we’ll let you know.
ORIGINAL REPORTING:
An explosion at the Holiday Inn in Clewiston injured one man staying at the hotel.
According to police the man was unloading fire suppression equipment when part of the equipment exploded.
See the moment of the explosion below:
Clewiston Police Chief Thomas Lewis said they are still working on what exactly caused the equipment to explode.
You can see in the surveillance video at the hotel there were red boxes that the man was checking. One of the boxes exploded blowing him backward.
The man takes off his shirt and there is a red burn mark. Police say the man was rushed to Hendry Regional Medical Center. Police say he is expected to be okay.
The Hendry County Sheriff's Office said during the investigation into the explosive Fire Personnel discovered a small amount of undetected explosives. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad was also called out to the scene to assist with the disposal of the items.
The Sheriff's Office wanted to alert citizens that the area from San Luis to Berner Road and south to Ventura to Sagamore were temporarily closed while crews disposed of the undetonated devices.
Clewiston Fire Commander Travis Reese noted, “it is important for residents in the area to know they may hear a loud explosion”. Reese went on to say “this is a controlled explosion and the public is not in danger.
The ATF and the State Fire Marshall are also now investigating according to Police.
The Holiday Inn is open and no other guests or employees were injured in the explosion.
The explosion was isolated to that one vehicle.
