Five people were injured, two seriously, in an explosion Saturday morning at a food truck in a popular shopping and dining district of Whittier, authorities said.
Eleven firefighters and paramedics were dispatched at 9:17 a.m. to the 6700 block of Greenleaf Avenue, said Martin Rangel, senior fire dispatcher with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
“There was some sort of explosion” but no fire when first responders arrived at the scene at 9:21 a.m., he said.
The Whittier Police Department is investigating the circumstances of the incident and is expected to report the matter to Cal/OSHA.
Rangel said it was likely a propane tank explosion. Whittier police officials were not immediately available for comment.
Five people were injured, two seriously, in an explosion at a food truck in Whittier on Saturday, authorities said. Whittier police were on scene investigating the cause of the blast.
(Onscene.tv)
According to the National Fire Protection Association, 68% of food truck fires are related to leaks or structural failures of propane tanks. Over the years, the food truck industry has grown, and propane-related accidents have occurred from time to time, the most famous of which occurred in the summer of 2014, when an explosion and subsequent fire at a food truck in Philadelphia killed the truck owner and her daughter and injured 11 others.
Food truck explosions and fires are rare in California, which has some of the strictest regulations governing the safety of mobile food operations, experts say.
According to Matt Geller, director of the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association, there are more than 2,700 food trucks and trailers operating in Los Angeles County. Geller was not aware of the Whittier food truck explosion. He said it did not appear the truck driver was a member of his association.
“It’s a pretty rare event,” Geller said, noting that the last food truck fire he could remember was 10 years ago in Venice. At the same time, he added, “we have a lot of old trucks.”
The five injured Saturday in Whittier were apparently members of the food truck crew, Rangel said. They were treated at the scene and taken to a hospital. Two suffered serious injuries, two had moderate injuries and one had a minor injury, Rangel said.
He didn’t have details on the food business or the truck’s owner, but some employees at nearby stores said it was a coffee business where the truck was parked, in the part of town known as Uptown Whittier.
Video footage showed a small section of Greenleaf Avenue was cordoned off Saturday, but by noon the street was clear, people at nearby businesses said.
