Explosion at Plantation shopping plaza leaves 23 injured, 1 trauma alert

PLANTATION, FLA. (WSVN) - A suspected gas explosion ripped through part of a shopping plaza in Plantation, sending debris flying hundreds of feet and injuring 23 people, including one child and one patient who was transported to the hospital as a trauma alert, officials said.

Plantation Police and fire rescue units from multiple agencies across Broward County responded to the scene near an LA Fitness at the Market on University shopping center, located along Southwest 10th Street and South University Drive, at around 11:30 a.m., Saturday.

“Initial reports were that there were multiple people injured and possibly multiple people trapped,” said Plantation Fire Deputy Chief Joel Gordon.

Officials said the blast decimated the unit at the west end of the strip mall, which was known as the pizza shop Pizzafire. Investigators believe the blast originated from the vacant unit, which had been closed for some time.

“On arrival, we did find that there appears to be what looks like some kind of an explosion,” said Gordon. “Haven’t confirmed a gas leak just yet, but there’s significant debris throughout the whole strip mall that’s involved.”

Cellphone video captured a gray and white cloud of smoke moments after the blast.

Another cellphone video captured onlookers staring at the destruction while a car alarm went off.

Witnesses described the chaotic moments during and after the blast, which they said resulted in a partial roof collapse at the LA Fitness.

Cellphone video captured customers inside the gym walking out in ankle-deep water. An exterior look at the building showed its hurricane windows were no match for the force of the impact.

Angela Marano said she was tutoring a student near the blast site.

“The ceiling kind of caved in, and [my student] was screaming, and I was just trying to process it. It almost felt like an earthquake,” she said.

“My tutor took me on the ground, and the owner of the place, my mom, came rushing to us, and we tried to go out through the front door,” said Marano’s student, “but the glass, the window, like, everything fell, and there was no way we could get out of there, so we went through the back door, and it was just really chaotic.”

Christian Gou said he was working at the Carrabba’s restaurant located at the shopping plaza near the tutoring center when he felt the blast.

“I’m just sitting there slicing up tomatoes, and all of a sudden I felt this huge explosion, ‘boom,'” he said. “I look around, I saw the ceiling tiles cave in.”

Like other witnesses, Gou initially thought the explosion was an earthquake.

“As silly as it sounds, immediately, I don’t know why, for a split second I thought to myself, ‘Earthquake?'” he said, “because of all the earthquakes that are happening in California, and then I realized that it was an explosion.”

Gou said the Carrabba’s wasn’t busy because it was just before the lunch rush. He said no one inside the restaurant was hurt.

Others, however, were not as fortunate.

“I did see, unfortunately, one gentleman whom I believe was working out at the LA Fitness,” said Gou. “I saw him in the parking lot. It looked like a pretty bad cut on his leg. He was losing a lot of blood, so I did see some of the people putting, I guess you could say a tourniquet on him.”

Photos taken at the scene captured two victims on stretchers and another being carried over a firefighter’s shoulder.

“We did find several patients throughout the area, mostly confined to the LA Fitness location and the place near by it,” said Gordon.

Paramedics transported two victims were transported to Broward Health Medical Center in serious condition. One of these victims was transported as a trauma alert with potentially life-threatening injuries.

“One was taken as a Level 1 trauma to Broward Health Medical Center. The other one was also transported to Broward Health. The others were transported locally,” said Gordon.

In all, officials said, 19 of the 23 victims were transported to area hospitals. Non-trauma patients, including one child, were transported to Westside Regional Medical Center and Plantation General Hospital.

“We believe we’ve located just about everyone,” said Gordon. “We are doing what’s called a secondary search in the condensed area in the center where the explosion appears to have [happened].”

The blast rattled nearby homes and businesses.

“We can’t believe that a tragedy would happen so close to our home, our job,” said a woman.

Area resident Angie Rojas, who lives about a mile away, said she felt a rumble, then heard a loud explosion.

“We saw the debris falling from the top of the patio,” she said.

That wasn’t the extent of the damage. Rojas showed a 7News crew a large hole in her ceiling and a piece of plywood where her sliding glass door once stood. Her contractor said she will need to spend thousands of dollars to fix the damage around her home.

Her neighbor, Elmer Clarke, said it sounded like a sonic boom.

“I thought perhaps one of the guys had been hit by lightning,” he said.

He rushed out to make sure everyone working on his driveway was OK.

Then he checked out the damage around his home. He had a broken window, and the impact even cracked a concrete wall.

“I was absolutely, totally shocked that we got damage with that situation,” he said.

Clarke’s backyard faces Market on University.

“I spend a lot of time over at LA Fitness, and fortunately, I didn’t go over there today,” he said.

Back at the shopping plaza, 7Skyforce hovered above the rubble as cadaver dogs searched for survivors. Luckily, no one was trapped beneath.

7’s DroneCam provided another overhead look at the damage. The blast was so powerful that it sent shards of glass and debris more than 500 feet into the parking lot of a neighboring shopping center.

The explosion left parts of the mall unrecognizable. Investigators were seen pulling out the building’s blueprints for help.

Aerial cameras also captured several cars in a parking lot that were damaged or destroyed as a result of the explosion.

A red Jeep belonging to Jose Perez and his wife was covered with fallen fragments from the wreckage. They were able to drive it out of the lot a few hours after the blast.

Meanwhile, a man who had taken his family to the LA Fitness said he’s thankful they left when they did.

“Had we gotten these kids and my wife in the car 15 seconds later, we wouldn’t be here,” he said. “My car was parked right in front of the pizza place, and it exploded … less than 15 seconds after we pulled away. Everything just exploded behind us.”

According to Gordon, the ruptured gas line has been secured. Crews have since shut off the gas.

Authorities shut down University Drive from Broward Boulevard to Peters Road, as well as Peters Road between University and Southwest 78th Avenue for hours while they investigated. Just after 7:30 p.m., they confirmed they had reopened the roadways to traffic.

Erick and Traci Leon, who opened the Market on University location of Code Ninjas, their computer coding center for children and young teens, in December, said they shared a wall with Pizzafire. The Leons said the gas explosion reduced their business to rubble.

The business owners said they were closed for the Fourth of July weekend.

“This happened around 11:30. We probably would have had like probably 30 to 40 kids there and our director and our senseis, who work with the kids,” said Traci

Families were asked to reunite with their loved ones at the community center at Central Park, located at 9121 NW 2nd Street, which was turned into an information center by police and volunteers.

“My sister called me, whatever, and my dad just told us, ‘Hey, you guys have got to come over,” said witness Brandon DeArmas.

Witness Alex Hoy said he was at the LA Fitness when the explosion sent everyone into a panic. He left his cellphone and some personal items behind as he ran for cover.

Like many others, Hoy arrived at Central Park hoping for answers.

“I was there for probably, like, an hour afterwards just trying to see if I could get back in and get my phone,” said Hoy.

People were taken by a shuttle from the explosion site to the information and waiting center in Central Park.

“There’s just a bunch of police officers, so they told us to come over here, put in the information, and whatever happens, they’ll tell us,” said DeArmas.

“A lot of our residents actually came here to see how they could help,” said area resident Grettel Guerra.

Volunteers remained at the center for hours.

As for the nearby residents whose homes were affected, they said they checked on each other and are glad everyone survived the blast.

“We’re very fortunate to live in a community where everyone pulls together, even the neighbors,” said Rojas. “Everybody coming outside, ‘Are you OK? Do you need anything? Is anyone hurt?'”

“We’re very much relieved that, considering the debris field and considering how we found the patients and where we found them, the injuries are not as severe as we would have thought, so we’re very thankful for that,” said Gordon.

“I’m just feeling very grateful that everybody that was in there with me made it out OK,” said Marano.

“As soon as I get home, I’m going to give my family members all a big hug and a big kiss, man,” said Gou. “You just never know what’s going to happen. Life can end just like that, in one split second, so it takes something like this to remind us of that.”

As parts of Market on University began to reopen throughout the night, large crowds stopped to take pictures and videos.

As of late Saturday night, the cause of the explosion remained unknown.

Authorities will be back at the shopping plaza Sunday morning to continue their investigation and cleanup efforts.

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