Warehouse Near Airport Goes Up In Flames
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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Firefighters from Fort Lauderdale, the Broward Sheriff's Office and Pompano Beach worked together to battle a massive fire that destroyed a warehouse near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.
Late Wednesday, the fire marshal said human error was behind the fire.
Gloria Whittam, who lives in the Palm Aire community near the airport, said she heard a loud explosion early Wednesday morning before she saw the smoke coming from the building between Cypress Creek and McNab roads, west of Powerline Road.
"I was out in the back building when I saw the fireball, probably 500 to 700 feet, explode up in the air, and I'm assuming it came out of that building," said Erick Katz.
A tall pillar of dark gray smoke from the two alarm fire could been seen for miles away.
A part of the building's roof collapsed after the flames burned through it. Flames spread to a tractor trailer parked next to the building.
"I ran away. I ran to the other side of the building that I was working in, the impact hit the door on my building," said "Valentine" who works in an adjacent building. "The explosion pushed back the door and when I looked outside the building was on fire. That was say a minute or two from the time of the explosion."
ConSeal International Inc., a manufacturer of specialty chemicals, leases the warehouse space.
The fire marshal says six people were in the building when the explosion happened. No one was hurt
"A worker accidentally punctured a container of sodium chlorite, essentially salt used in water purification" said fire marshal Jeff Lucas
That caused a small fire and set off a chain reaction of fires and explosions.
Lucas says the building is insured.