A chemical explosion at a food flavorings company in Lakeland had workers running for safety.
- Chemical burn victims in stable condition
- Scene under control at 5 p.m., hazmat crews going inside
It happened just before 5 p.m Friday at Ruthven Business Park on Drane Field Road, across the street from the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport.
One man who was in the area at the time said it sounded like a bomb went off, and he said he saw a smoke cloud in the air.
“A couple reports said they heard and felt shaking," said Janel Vasallo, with the Lakeland Fire Department.
An aerial footage shot from Sky 9 showed a hole in the roof of Taste Advantage, the company leasing the space. It’s a part of the company Natural Advantage. There was also damage to the facade.
Fifty people were evacuated from the area. Six employees were decontaminated and three men were taken to the hospital with chemical burns to the hands and arms, according to Janel Vasallo, the Lakeland Fire Department spokeswoman.
“We were quite relieved that that was it. The explosion was rather large. You could see from the photos and your helicopter footage that it did quite a bit of damage. So we’re quite fortunate there were no fatalities,” Vasallo said.
The men were wearing masks while they cleaned the kettles the food flavorings were made in.
Officials said the explosion was a volatile mix of toluene and sodium hypochlorite, a type of bleach that caused the explosion.
“We know the workers were actively mixing these chemicals in the cleaning process when the explosion happened. So our hazmat team is doing more research to see if it was an accident, they mixed something that should’ve been mixed,” Vasallo said.
Two of the men were taken to Tampa General Hospital and one was taken to Lakeland Regional Health Center.
One of the owners of the property, Greg Ruthven, said the company had leased the property for 10 years and he’s never had an issue with them before.
(Lakeland Fire Department via Twitter)
We'll have more updates shortly.