Propane Tank Explodes, Injures Two Men In Marshfield
MARSHFIELD (CBS) - A propane tank falling from the sky and narrowly missing a car was captured on surveillance video in Marshfield on Tuesday afternoon.
Jim Pircio was inside the Blanchard's Liquors and saw it flying. "I happened to look up and see something flying through the air," Pircio said. "It was just boom and the building shook."
Wendy Bunten at Capeway Opticians heard it too. "It was so powerful an explosion that it came through the walls and whole building smelled like propane," she said.
Bunten's business was quickly evacuated. "We had things fall off the walls, glasses, my clock fell off the wall, I was afraid it damaged the building," she said.
A propane tank being filled next door at Williams Coal and Oil in Marshfield suddenly blew up and went sailing hundreds of feet into the air before landing all the way across the street, almost on a car.
"The poor couple in the car were pretty shaken up it just missed them," Pircio said.
Acting Marshfield Fire Chief William Hocking says a customer was filling up a large, old tank when it exploded and he and the worker were badly injured. Hocking says the tank was rusted and old and never should have been filled in the first place.
"On each filling," Hocking says, "he should be inspecting any damage and if he sees any rust or corrosion it should be taken out of service and discarded."
A terrible accident in a very busy part of town, but amazingly no one else was injured.
Hocking says, "It could have been really bad. Route 139 is one of our busiest streets in town and the tank exploded straight up into the air."
The two men are recovering from shrapnel injuries after the blast. Investigators are looking into the accident.
