Tuesday, April 24, 2012
According to news reports and the fire investigators, the owner of the vehicle had 2 portable propane tanks in the bed of his truck. He pulled into the drive through at McDonalds and got out to check one of them he thought was leaking. When he touched the valve, he created a spark on the tank from static electricity because he was grounded and the tank sitting in the bed of the truck wasn't. That sparked the initial fire from the leak on the first tank, and which eventually destroyed the pickup. The second tank was still sitting in the bed of the truck and was exposed to the fire in the vehicle. The second tank eventually vents repeatedly and then BLEVEs. The cell phone video shows the tank venting and then the eventual explosion.