A HIALEAH, FLORIDA, WELDER STARTED HIS INDEPENDENCE DAY FIREWORKS a little early on Thursday.  While driving his work van down the street, he decided to light a cigarette despite the fact that he had his acetylene tank right behind him.

The resulting explosion knocked out the windows of businesses on both sides of the street and broke some tree limbs.  One of the van’s doors ended up in a nearby schoolyard.

The driver survived, somehow, and is being treated in Jackson Memorial Hospital for burns.

A nearby surveillance camera caught the van just as it blew:

A VIOLENT NATURAL GAS EXPLOSION literally leveled a house in Charlotte, North Carolina, Thursday night.  The blast killed a 4-month-old infant and left two adults, believed to be the parents, with life-threatening injuries.

Charlotte Observer / O’Brien photo

When Charlotte FD units arrived, the adults were standing amidst the rubble and still coherent enought to tell the rescuers that there was a baby inside.  After a time-consuming search they found the infant, but attempts to resuscitate it were futile.

The only resultant fire was a flame at the orifice of a broken gas pipe which was left to burn until the gas company shut down the mains.

Observer / O’Brien photo

Just 90 minutes before the 7:45 pm explosion, Piedmont Gas workers were called to a house five doors down for an investigation into a smell of gas in the area.  But they were unable to detect any gas and left the neighborhood.

The Charlotte Observer has the latest STORY.

The Associated Press has posted some raw video:

A STRANGE EPISODE AT A NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA, service station killed the station’s owner in front of his wife and daughter on Tuesday.

Parkes Champion Post photo

A tank truck loaded with diesel fuel was transferring product into a smaller tanker at the time and the man was on top of one of the trucks when a sudden explosion took place.  Along with the heavy concussion force, there was a large fireball and a lot of smoke floating around, but no fire except a small trash fire set nearby.

When neighboring storekeepers ran to the scene, they had trouble finding the victim because of the smoke, but he was soon located laying near one of the trucks.  He was already dead and completely burned.

His wife and 21-yr.-old daughter were working inside the office of the family-owned business and went into immediate shock.

The fire officials are puzzled as to what caused the blast because diesel fumes are not easily ignited.

The Melbourne Herald Sun has the STORY.

A THUNDERING EXPLOSION BROUGHT SAN DIEGO TO A STOP Monday afternoon as people were shocked into wondering what happened.

The blast occurred in a seaside construction site where a luxury hotel is being built.  It was quickly determined that the explosion was the result of a natural gas buildup inside a 5th-floor utility room that was triggered by either an electrical spark or a boiler firebox.

Union-Tribune/Embry photo

About 400 construction workers were in the building when the 2:00 pm blast occurred, injuring 14, three of them seriously.  Nine of them were transported to the UCSD Medical Center burn unit and three of those were put into medically-induced comas while they were treated for burns.

The 1,190-room luxury hotel is located near the city’s convention center and was scheduled to open this December.  An early engineering appraisal shows that no serious structural damage occurred to the building, but the explosion blew out the face (curtain wall) of four floors.

AP/Poroy photo

The San Diego Union-Tribune has a good REPORT.

The Associated Press has this video report:

Union-Tribune graphic

THE MASSIVE BLAST THAT LEVELED THREE HOMES in the London, England, suburbs Wednesday night (Firegeezer REPORT) has yielded more information.

©Sky News

The body of the sole victim was recovered last night shortly after 9:30 pm.  His house at #19 was completely destroyed as well as a 2-flat home next door at #21.  A third house, #23, had half of the building ripped apart and the next two houses may be deemed uninhabitable.  Now the police believe that the man’s house was not the location of the initial explosion.

They are looking into a report earlier in the evening about a disturbance at #21 involving some girls including a 17-yr.-old called Charlotte who was critically injured in the blast.  There is a report that shortly before the incident, somebody poured a purple-colored liquid through the letter slot in the front door.

So far, police have not been able to get to the area where they think the door may have been in order to get a sample of the chemical.

Detective Chief Inspector Colin Sutton, from the Metropolitan Police, said,  “We are aware that at some point during the course of Wednesday there was a substance put through the letterbox of number 21.  Until we can get access to the site of the explosion, that we believe to be number 21, we are not in a position to say what that substance might have been.”

He said there were a number of theories that police were working on.  Mr Sutton added: “A strong line of inquiry for us at the moment is the dispute, this call at the address and of course the substance put through the letterbox.”  He added that Charlotte was the likely target of any attack.

Sky News has this latest report HERE.

Updated, 5:30 pm Eastern. 

A MASSIVE EXPLOSION IN THE LONDON (ENGLAND)SUBURB OF SOUTH HARROW destroyed three homes Wednesday night.  One man has died and at least two others were seriously injured, one a 26-yr.-old man with a severe head injury and the other a 17-yr.-old girl with burns.

Press Association photo

The blast has all the early indications of being a natural gas explosion, but the police have a suspicion that it could have been deliberately triggered and have opened a murder investigation.

Emergency workers are still searching this morning for any other victims in the rubble.  Structural instabilities are slowing the search and rescue efforts.

John Gaffney, station manager for London Fire Brigade, said: “At this point we are assessing if anyone else was involved and we are still searching with specialist listening equipment.” The process would continue for a number of hours, he said, but if no sounds were heard the building would be made safe and police sniffer dogs brought in. 

BBC image

A spokeswoman for the gas company said the pipes leading to the house had been checked and the supply isolated.  “We found no trace of a gas leak in our system but we will continue to have a very small presence on site,” she said.

Update:  With the possibility of a gas leak all but eliminated, the police murder squad detectives are considering that the explosion was deliberately triggered.  A Scotland Yard spokesman was quoted by the Times as saying that they “have evidence” that the blast was sparked intentionally.

The victim’s body is still buried in the rubble while structural engineers are working at making the building safe for entry.  Forensic experts are having to wait until Friday before they can begin their investigation.

About 30 40 residents in the row have been temporarily displaced and will be housed in hotels for a few more days yet.

BBC News has an early REPORT.
The London Times has MORE.

TWO MEN WERE SERIOUSLY INJURED IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN, MONDAY evening when a house that was supposed to be vacant blew up.

WXYZ-TV

One of the men was on a porch of the house and was seen lighting a cigarette just before the explosion.  The blast and fire set his clothes alight and he was taken to the hospital in critical condition with burns over 80% of his body.

A second man who was standing on the sidewalk conversing with the first victim, was knocked over by the blast and injured from the flying debris.  He was also hospitalized in serious condition.

The blast set fire to the two adjoining buildings, both of which were also “vacant,” but the Detroit FD knocked the fires down quickly.  They remained on the scene overnight searching the three buildings for any further victims.

The Detroit News has the early REPORT.
WXYZ-TV has a VIDEO.

A PLEASURE BOAT IN MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, EXPLODED INTO PIECES SATURDAY at a dockside refueling station.  Two people were killed and five others were injured, one seriously.

NineNews

The 35-ft. cabin cruiser had just been filled with 50 gallons of gasoline in preparation for a family outing.  When one of the party tried to start the engine, the accumulated fumes apparently ignited and blew the boat apart.  Debris was scattered over 150 ft. away.

The 48-yr.-old owner of the craft was severely burned as was his 45-yr.-old commonlaw wife who has life-threatening injuries.  The man’s parents, both in their 80’s, were killed instantly.  They were standing in the stern over the gas tanks.

NineNews

Five other family members standing on the dock were injured by the blast and debris.  The fueling station was heavily damaged as well.

The owner had just purchased the 2nd-hand boat and was taking his family on an inaugural outing.  The initial evidence and testimony indicates that the operator of the boat attempted to start it without first venting the hull of gasoline vapors, but the police say that it could be several weeks before a definite cause is confirmed.

The craft before Saturday (The Age photo)

The Sydney Morning Herald has the STORY.
The ABC has a video REPORT.

THE BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA, PUBLIC TRANSIT SYSTEM has approx. 100 buses that are fueled by natural gas.

Early Monday morning one of them exploded during refueling operations at a maintenance depot.  A worker had just finished filling the gas storage bottles in the bus when there was a sudden release of gas from the storage system.  The gas immediately ignited and the ensuing explosion sent the gas bottle through the roofs of both the bus and the shed, then falling through the roof of a neighboring building.

Demolished Brisbane bus is hard to recognize
after natural gas fuel leak ignites.
(Courier-Mail photo)

The worker and a second man in the shop suffered only minor injuries.  A Queensland Fire and Rescue spokeswoman said that the crews at the scene were amazed that nobody was killed.

The bus service has pulled 30 of their gas-fueled buses offline to investigate their filling systems.

The Brisbane Times has the STORY.

IN PIERCE COUNTY, WASHINGTON, THE MAN WHO BLEW THE ROOF OFF of the home where he was renting a room (Firegeezer report HERE) has left some interesting evidence behind.

Coroner’s office removes body of suspected bomber
(Times News photo)

The house was demolished when the man, who was being corralled by the sheriffs, detonated a homemade bomb in an upstairs room, killing himself.

The investigators found knives, clubs, parts of automatic weapons, and had information that the bomber had purchased a bulletproof vest.

The Tacoma News Tribune has the DETAILS.
The News Tribune also has some more background information on what all happened at the scene HERE.