By Angie DiMichele
Source South Florida Sun-Sentinel (TNS)
A man was hospitalized Tuesday afternoon with severe burns after an explosion at a Hallandale Beach gas station where an excavation project was underway, Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue said.
A witness said the explosion shortly before 12:30 p.m. at the Mobil gas station at 26 S. Federal Highway was “an intense rumble that shook the ground violently,” Battalion Chief Michael Kane said in a news release.
Firefighters found a man in his 30s lying unresponsive on the ground when they arrived and machinery nearby on fire.
“It appears the fire was triggered by vapors escaping from an underground fuel storage tank, which were ignited by nearby machinery,” Kane said. The explosion left a 50-feet wide hole in the ground.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze within 10 minutes. The man who was injured suffered second- and third-degree burns on more than half of his body, Kane said.
He was treated at the scene and taken to Aventura Medical Center in Miami-Dade County.
The south lanes of South Federal Highway at Hallandale Beach Boulevard were shut down for several hours and had reopened by shortly before 6 p.m.
The State Fire Marshal will investigate.
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