Latest on Central Laredo Explosion
By
KGNS News
Story Created:
Jan 3, 2012 at 7:34 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Jan 5, 2012
Emergency crews responded to the calls of explosions that people are telling us they were able to hear, and feel, from miles away.
Authorites tell us the first emergency call was received at 11:03 Monday night.
The location was the intersection of Corpus Christi and Meadow. This witness said: "De repente trono todo bien fuerte".
It was all so sudden, and so loud.
Another witness stated, "Nomas que trono todo, y se movieron las trailas".
Houses rattled, and windows shattered during this explosion that witnesses say was heard as far as in the Santa Rita subdivision in south Laredo.
We went back to the scene as authorities remained there until early morning hours.
Investigator Joe Baeza from the Laredo Police Department said, "By one witness account after the explosion, the initial detonation, a few moments had lapsed and by the time he came back outside, there was still debris,dangerous pieces of sheet metal and boards with nails on them, falling from the sky. That's how hard and impactful the detonation was."
What you can see behind me is the back wall of the Wiggles center. In front of it there was a brick wall and a three car garage that were destroyed during the explosion.
Different departments teamed up and conducted investigations on the scene over night and during the morning hours.
Laredo Police Chief Carlos Maldonado said on Tuesday morning,
"We have the ATF investigators here that are assisting my bomb technicians as well as fire department."
After almost twelve hours of intense investigation, Fire Chief Steve Landin, says it was not an intentional explosion. He stated, "We teamed up with the ATF, the bomb squad, and the Laredo Fire Department arson unit and we evaluated the scene and it was determined that it was a leak, a slow propane leak”
Landin also stated that though this was a very impressive explosion, they are glad it happened over night, and not during the morning hours, when the Wiggles center for austistic kids, located yards away from the explosion, was occupied. He said, "It's a huge blessing that this happened during the night, when the building was unoccupied. This could have been a lot worse."
Carolina Garcia, Pro 8 News.
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Anonymous said on Wednesday, Jan 4 at 8:26 AM
Did she say people heard and felt the explosion all the way in the Santa Rita Subdivision? WOW!!! That's real far away!! Nambre, fue el mofle de su vecino! LOL
79348808B>S said on Thursday, Jan 5 at 1:02 PM
for some reason I feel that the story provided by pro 8 news and the ppl that were interviewed was 1/2 a**ed... still don't understand how this could have happened... How many propane tanks did they have, how large was the tank??? So many questions so little answers.. LIke ALWAYS!
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