House Fire Breaks Out After Explosion, Gas Leak: Chief

BRADENTON, FL — A house fire at 804 29th Ave. West was contained after several hours on Thursday evening, said Cedar Hammock Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Ryan French.

The fire rescue department, joined by other local agencies, began battling the fire at 2:04 p.m. on Thursday, when an explosion occurred at the home, said Chief Kyle Bradshaw. French said all firefighters and EMS had left the scene by 11 p.m. Thursday.

Two people in the home at the time of the explosion were brought to Blake Hospital Thursday afternoon by Manatee County EMS, Bradshaw said, though he didn’t know the extent or nature of their injuries. A Cedar Hammock firefighter was taken to Manatee County Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

CHFR had been in the area since around 11:30 a.m., initially responding to reports of a natural gas leak in the 2900 block of 9th Street West, Bradshaw said. “There was an odor of gas detected and fire department units set up a perimeter to establish a hot zone.”

TECO gas also responded to locate the source of the gas leak. Though they noticed the gas was coming out of the sewer lines, it was “pretty difficult for them to pinpoint where the leak was,” he said.

While they were searching for the source of the leak, the explosion occurred at 804 29th Ave. West. Since Cedar Hammock already had fire units in the area, firefighters quickly repositioned their equipment to battle the blaze, Bradshaw said.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office did a reverse 9-1-1- call telling those living in the area to evacuate or shelter in place, he said, though he’s unsure what time that alert was sent out.

Florida Power & Light also shut down the electric grid in the area “to eliminate mission sources,” Bradshaw said. This left around 1,000 homes without power.

TECO eventually found the leak and was able to shut off the gas, though he’s uncertain of the time that happened.

“There’s still a lot of gas in the sewer lines. That’s what’s taking so long out there,” he said.

TECO has opened the manholes and are using fans to move the gas out from the sewer lines, he said.

Additionally, firefighters went going home to home to check gas levels on all properties in the area.

“Not only were they securing the area and fighting a house fire, they were going house to house in the cordoned off hot zone and checking each house with gas monitors,” Bradshaw said.

Cedar Hammock was joined by other local agencies in fighting the fire and investigating the gas leak, including Southern Manatee Fire Rescue, West Manatee Fire Rescue, Bradenton Fire Department, Sarasota Fire Department, Manatee County EMS, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, Bradenton Police Department, the Florida State Fire Marshal Division and Manatee County Emergency Management.

French said that TECO and Manatee County Public Works employees were still working to repair the gas and sewer lines late Thursday night.

Earlier in the day, several roads had been closed. According to a tweet from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office around 5 p.m., most roads had reopened, though 30th Ave. West from 9th Street West to 3rd Street West remained closed.