Deadly fire at Pembroke Park gas station under investigation
FORT LAUDERDALE - One person is dead following a fire at a gas station in Pembroke Park.
It was around 4 in the morning when a pickup truck at a gas station burst into flames.
"I kept on hearing these popping sounds and crackling, I wasn't sure what it was, little explosions. It sounded like gunshots," said Moses Mercea. He was very close when the fire broke out.
He shot cell phone video of the Racetrac gas station at Hallandale Beach Blvd and I-95.
"I noticed that the pump was on fire and there was quite a fire going and I was hearing the little crackles and explosions," he said.
What Moses could not see at the time is that a man was in the midst of those flames.
Firefighters didn't realize either until after they knocked down that fire. Moses wishes there was something he could have done to help.
"I figured it was futile even if I ran over there wouldn't have been much, I couldn't get close enough to the fire, to the pump," he said.
He was also worried about a bigger explosion. "With all the gas, that there's several thousand gallons of gas underneath us, close proximity, that it could all catch fire because the fire was raging," he said.
When the flames were out, a mangled and melted truck was left behind, with lots of questions, like how did it start?
"The truck, it looked like a burnt marshmallow, honestly, a burnt marshmallow would probably look less burnt than the truck did," said witness Dustin Brown.
While BSO does not suspect foul play in this, they are conducting a death investigation. Right now they're waiting for the results of an autopsy.
