JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After a tremendous explosion and fire tore through and gutted a Jacksonville muffler shop, two people were hospitalized and $250,000 in damages was left in the wake.
According to Jacksonville Fire-Rescue, heavy smoke and flames were visible just after 4:30 p.m. as the first engine arrived at the Rainbow Muffler Shop at 5300 Philips Highway.
"I looked at it in the front and I saw the flames were coming out through the window. It was so quick," said Jorge Lopez, owner of Paisano's Tires, next door to the shop. "I was very concerned about it because you never know what's going to happen. There were some explosions in there so I moved the cars that way just in case."
For two hours, four engines, two ladders, two squad cars, four rescue units and a rehabilitation unit blocked Philips Highway southbound as firefighters battled the flames.
They struggled through heat, humidity and heavy smoke, cycling through crews who were cooling down in the rehab unit.
"Windows were just completely busted out. The front office area, the entire bay area were already consumed with flames. The crews immediately went about with their aggressive suppression tactics and were able to call the fire under control in about 25 minutes," Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department spokesman, Tom Francis, said.
Francis said the fire started when workers were removing a fuel tank from one of the vehicles in the bay area. He says a spark ignited a flammable liquid, likely gas, causing a violent explosion inside.
"It was crazy what happened. It was scary to see the flames and I'm sorry for the business owners, they're my friends," Lopez said.
Officials said that one of the people injured was the son of the owner of the shop and was transported to the burn unit at UF Health in Gainesville with second degree burns.
The other person injured was a woman with her dog who was a customer at the shop and had just brought her Cadillac into the shop with a muffler problem.
She was treated for smoke inhalation and was released from the hospital.