WILTON MANORS, Fla. – A man was rushed to a hospital with burns to his arms and torso Tuesday morning after an explosion at an apartment building in Wilton Manors.
Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue said it received multiple calls around 11 a.m. and Sky 10 was over the scene as fire officials responded to the Manor Grove Village complex just east of Andrews Avenue between Oakland Park Boulevard and Sunrise Boulevard.
Fire rescue crews said the man injured was remodeling the bathroom of a vacant apartment when the accident happened. His injuries were considered serious but not life-threatening. He was initially taken to Broward Health Medical Center and then transferred to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s burn unit.
“There wasn’t proper ventilation at the time,” Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Stephen Gollan said. “Whatever products he was using in the bathroom are what ignited. That ignition was strong enough to blow one of the walls out, blow all of the windows out, and also the door to the apartment was pushed off of its frame.”
FLFR crews are working an explosion in an apartment building in Wilton Manors at 12 NE 19 Ct. 1 male transported with burn injuries to Broward Health pic.twitter.com/jOn5OmMm9g
— FLFR PIO (@FLFR411) March 1, 2022
“We are very fortunate someone wasn’t walking by at the time of the incident or someone would have been injured by the glass,” Gollan added.
Four units were affected and there is smoke damage to the entire second floor.
Residents have since been allowed to go back inside the building.
A neighbor described the sound as like something fell right on top of the roof.
“It was a horrible sound and the whole building shook,” resident Ruby Tucker said.