10:00 PM PST on Sunday, November 30, 2008
An explosion at a propane storage facility in Idyllwild shot flames 40 feet into the air Sunday morning, scorching a nearby mobile home and burning off the end of a worker's moustache, firefighters said.
No injuries were reported in the blaze about 7:20 a.m. near Pine Crest Avenue and Maranatha Drive.
Idyllwild firefighters were sipping coffee at the town fire station a few hundred yards away when they saw the blaze through the kitchen window, said Capt. James Manietta.
"It's hard to miss a fireball that big," Manietta said, adding that some residents said they felt the ground shake.
The driver of a 5,000-gallon transport truck was unloading propane into a massive tank at Suburban Propane, when the blast occurred. The driver was unharmed, but he lost about an inch of his moustache, Manietta said.
The flames ignited spot fires at a nearby mobile home park, searing part of one home, Manietta said. Residents came out of their homes with garden hoses to help extinguish burning pine needles and other ground cover.
Idyllwild firefighters and Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department had the blaze and spot fires under control within about five minutes, Manietta said.
Recent rains moistened the dry earth and helped prevent the fire's spread, he added.
Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the explosion and do not yet have an estimate of the damage, he said. Firefighters did not release the driver's name Sunday.
Reach Julia Glick at 951-368-9442 or jglick@PE.com
Source Article: Press-Enterprise
I highly doubt that was a massive explosion...or a large tank. If it was truly either one of those blocks of damage would have occurred and all life would have been destroyed.
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