Caught on camera: Fireball inside West Bend Qdoba
Authorities say contractors working overnight did not turn off the gas while cleaning ductwork
Authorities say contractors working overnight did not turn off the gas while cleaning ductwork
Authorities say contractors working overnight did not turn off the gas while cleaning ductwork
Surveillance video caught an explosion in a West Bend Qdoba restaurant on camera. Investigators say nobody was seriously hurt.
West Bend Fire and Rescue is reminding anyone working on or near gas appliances, to turn off the gas first.
According to West Bend Fire and Rescue, it happened at the Qdoba restaurant on Paradise Drive around 2:40 a.m. Thursday. The restaurant was not open, but private contractors were inside cleaning the stove.
The video from inside the kitchen shows a worker bending over and the stove erupting. Sprinklers then come on, partially extinguishing the flames.
"When I first saw that video, my first thought was that person is very lucky to have no injuries or minimal injuries, whatever they had. The second thought was, again, there's a house explosion or a building explosion every day from gas somewhere in the United States. So we are just lucky that this wasn't worse than what it could have been," said Kenny Asselin, the captain of fire prevention for West Bend Fire Department.
Asselin said the workers covered the oven in plastic sheeting to catch debris while they cleaned the ductwork.
"There was gas coming out from where the pilot lights were and at some point, when the worker was bent over into the garbage can, don't know what he was working on at that point in time, but then a fireball erupted," Asselin said.
Asselin said the private contractors did not turn off the gas. It built up under the plastic and ignited, possibly by static electricity.
"The takeaway and the lesson should be if you're working on a gas appliance or working around a gas appliance, you should make sure to turn off the gas to that appliance to prevent something like this from happening in the future," Asselin said.
Asselin said the West Bend Fire Department gets calls about once a month for a gas leak in a stove or a residence.