21 people injured after explosion at shopping center

Explosion at Plantation, Florida, shopping center leaves 21 people injured: 'It just looks like an apocalypse'

ABC News
By EMILY SHAPIRO
Jul 6, 2019

Police and fire crews are looking for answers after an explosion at a shopping center in Florida, officials said Saturday.

First responders at the scene of an explosion in Plantation, Fla., July 6, 2019.

Twenty-one people were injured, including two seriously, in the blast in Plantation, just outside of Fort Lauderdale, said Joel Gordon, Battalion Chief for Plantation Fire.

Video shows windows blown out of an LA Fitness while a building next door appeared completely destroyed, with debris strewn in all directions.
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SWAT Medic Wounded During Suicide By Cop Standoff

Polk gunman dead after SWAT standoff 
10 News
Emerald Morrow
February 7, 2015

Deputies say Phillips started shooting at them and he hit a SWAT medic in the shoulder. When the SWAT team shot back, the building went up in flames.

Sheriff Judd credit his military vehicles for protecting deputies in the standoff.
(Photo: WTSP)

Winter Haven, Florida -- Authorities confirmed on Saturday that the gunman in a standoff -- that involved more than 200 rounds -- at a plumbing company is dead.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office said that during the standoff, Michael Phillips, 39, made it clear he wanted to commit suicide by cop and continually threatened the law enforcement presence.

His mother apparently notified police that he suffered from mental illness. Soon after police got to the scene, a shootout began. More than 200 shots were exchanged between deputies and the suspect.
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Firefighters battle massive explosion in Tavares Florida

7 hurt in plant explosions at Blue Rhino in Tavares
WESH News Multiple explosions from propane plant rock area
Jul 30, 2013

The plant contained about 53,000 20-pound propane cylinders, Herrell said.

TAVARES, Fla.

Propane explosions at the Blue Rhino LP gas plant rocked the Tavares area on Monday night, injuring seven people.

A massive emergency response was called to the plant, which is located at the 300 block of County Road 448, after multiple injuries were reported.

All employees on staff at the time of the explosion were accounted for by 2 a.m., Lake County spokesman John Herrell said.

"Plant management is comfortable saying they are accounted for," Herrell said.

Seven people were hurt -- some of them critically injured, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

"It's very, very dramatic. It's surreal," Herrell said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families."
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Volunteer firefighters died saving others

Residents near Texas plant explosion allowed to return home
By Tom Watkins
CNN
updated 4:17 PM EDT, Sat April 20, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
West, Texas, "is safe for our citizens," Mayor Pro Tem Steve Vanek says
Residents can return home but will have limited utilities and a curfew, he says
Town of West -- population 2,800 -- grapples with loss; death toll remains at 14

(CNN) -- Days after a fertilizer plant explosion killed 14 people and leveled parts of a central Texas town, officials moved Saturday to help get residents back to their homes.

"I want to dispel any rumors of any health or safety hazards or threats at this time in the city of West," Mayor Pro Tem Steve Vanek told reporters without specifying what those rumors may have been. "It is safe, it is safe, it is safe for our citizens."

Arrangements were being made for insurance adjusters to gain access to the stricken areas, he said.

The dead included the secretary, who was also a member of the volunteer fire department, said Mayor Tommy Muska.

In total, five West firefighters died battling the blaze, along with one Dallas firefighter and four emergency responders, the State Firemen's and Fire Marshals' Association of Texas said Thursday.
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Fort Hood Crews Respond to Fertilizer Plant Blast

Fort Hood Crews Respond to Fertilizer Plant Blast
Apr 18, 2013
Military.com
by Michael Hoffman

A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco, Texas, on Wednesday injured dozens of people and killed an unknown number of others, leaving the factory a smoldering ruin and leveling buildings for blocks in every direction.

Local authorities requested three vehicles and crews from the Fort Hood fire department to help with the search and rescue of victims in collapsed houses and a nursing home, a Fort Hood official said.

The explosion at West Fertilizer in West, Texas, a community about 20 miles north of Waco, happened shortly before 8 p.m. It sent flames shooting high into the night sky, and rained burning embers, shrapnel and debris down on shocked and frightened residents.

Although authorities said it will be some time before they know the full extent of the loss of life, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman D.L. Wilson said just after midnight that an unknown number of people had died.

Fort Hood is located 50 miles south of West, Texas, and about an hour-long drive. No soldiers or other military personnel stationed at Fort Hood were known to be injured or killed in the explosion as of late Wednesday night, said Tom Rheinlander, a Fort Hood spokesman.
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Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion Killed 13, Injured 200

Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion Killed 13, Injured 200
ABC News
By COLLEEN CURRY
April 19, 2013

At least 13 people, including firefighters and emergency medical workers, were killed and about 200 more injured in the massive explosion and fire at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, according to officials.

The number of deaths and injuries could still grow as search and recovery efforts continue at the site of the plant, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

The explosion rocked the rural Texas town Wednesday night, flattening buildings for blocks around the fertilizer plant. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.

Of the individuals confirmed dead, five were volunteer firefighters, four were emergency medical technicians, and four were civilians, according to the mayor of West, Tommy Musko.

Crews have searched the plant, a nearby nursing home, and a nearby apartment building that were all severely damaged. All 144 people inside the nursing home made it out alive, according to mayor.
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Fertilizer Plant Explosion In Texas Levels Buildings

Fertilizer Plant Explosion In Texas Levels Buildings, Claims As Many As 15 Lives
Huff Post
(VIDEO/PHOTOS/LIVE UPDATES)
By JOHN L. MONE and MICHAEL BRICK 04/18/13

WEST, Texas — Rescue workers searched rubble early Thursday for survivors of a fertilizer plant explosion in a small Texas town that killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160 others. The blast left the factory a smoldering ruin and leveled homes and businesses for blocks in every direction.

The explosion in downtown West, a small farming community about 20 miles north of Waco, shook the ground with the strength of a small earthquake and could be heard dozens of miles away. It sent flames shooting into the night sky and rained burning embers and debris down on shocked and frightened residents.

"They are still getting injured folks out and they are evacuating people from their homes," Waco police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said early Thursday morning. He added later, "At some point this will turn into a recovery operation, but at this point, we are still in search and rescue."

Swanton said authorities believe that between five and 15 people were killed in the blast, but stressed that is an early estimate. There is no indication the blast was anything other than an industrial accident, he said.

Among those believed to be dead: Three to five volunteer firefighters and a single law enforcement officer who responded to a fire call at the West Fertilizer Co. shortly before the blast. They remained unaccounted for early Thursday morning.
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