Three Tempe firefighters received minor burns Saturday night during an explosion inside a burning brick house. The blast lifted the roof, hurled debris and threw a firefighter 15 feet into the yard, fire officials said Sunday.
"If it weren’t for their training and personal protective equipment, it could have been much worse," Tempe Fire Investigator Mike Reichling said in reference to the fully engulfed residential fire at 1204 S. Mill Ave.
"Once the oxygen hit that gas, it exploded," he said, knocking off casement windows, the front door and splitting a block header.
"It blew one of my firefighters out into the front yard," Reichling said.
The seven firefighters working on the north side of the building were saved in part due to their training, Reichling said. They heard a noise, like a rushing sound. The temperatures hit at least 1,500 degrees.
"They all yelled get down, and boom, it just hit," Reichling said. "It sucked it and blew it out."
The three firefighters who received burns are not seriously injured. Typically they would receive burns between their masks and the hoods, Reichling said.
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