Five people were injured, two of them seriously, when a food truck exploded early Saturday morning in a popular dining and shopping district in Whittier, authorities said.
Eleven firefighters and paramedics were dispatched to the 6700 block of Greenleaf Avenue at 9:17 a.m., said Martin Rangel, a fire dispatcher with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
He said when emergency crews arrived at the scene at 9:21 a.m., there was “some kind of explosion” but no fire.
The Whittier Police Department is investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident and is expected to report the case to Cal/OSHA.
Rangel said it was likely a propane tank explosion. Whittier police officials were not immediately available for comment.
An explosion at a food truck in Whittier on Saturday injured five people, two of them seriously, authorities said. Whittier police are on scene investigating the cause of the explosion.
(Onscene.tv)
National Fire Protection Association. Said 68% of food truck fires are related to propane tank leaks or structural failures. As the food truck business has grown over the years, propane-related accidents have occurred, the most notorious of which was the explosion and subsequent fire of a Philadelphia food truck in the summer of 2014, which claimed the life of the owner, her daughter and 11 other people were injured.
Experts say food truck explosions and fires are rare in California, which has some of the strictest regulations on the safety of mobile food operations.
Matt Geller, director of the Southern California Mobile Food Vendors Association, said there are more than 2,700 food trucks and trailers operating in Los Angeles County. Geller was unaware of the Whittier food truck bombing. He said the truck operator did not appear to be a member of his association.
“This is a fairly rare event,” Geller said, noting that the last food truck fire he could remember was in Venice 10 years ago. In the meantime, he said, “We have a lot of old trucks.”
Rangel said the five people injured in Whittier on Saturday were apparently food truck workers. They were treated at the scene and taken to the hospital, with two suffering serious injuries, two with moderate injuries and one with minor injuries, Rangel said.
He didn’t have details about the food business or the owner of the truck, but some workers at nearby stores said it was related to a coffee business at the truck park, which is located in Uptown Whittier.
Video footage showed a small section of Greenleaf Avenue blocked off on Saturday, but people at nearby businesses said the street was clear by midday.
