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Pickup truck explodes in Virginia Beach

Posted at 8:04 AM, Aug 20, 2013
and last updated 2013-08-20 19:18:35-04

Virginia Beach, Va. - A pickup truck exploded in the Carolanne Farms area of Virginia Beach this morning, sending debris flying 200 yards away.

NewsChannel 3's Darragh Copley spoke with the fire battalion chief on the scene, who says the truck belongs to a heating and air conditioning contractor.

"My ears are still ringing five hours later, and I still have that feeling in my chest," a neighbor said.

"It felt like the house was about to fall. It knocked a clock off of our wall and it broke one of my windows," a woman who lives nearby said.

He says flammable gases leaked from equipment in the truck overnight, and when the contractor used his key fob to unlock the truck around 7am this morning it exploded.

No one was hurt in the blast in the 300 block of Gainsborough Road. Several 911 calls were made within a 1-mile radius of the blast.

"He was on the ground, but then got back up and started walking around like everything was fine. He got lucky. There was a windshield behind our house, stuff over there, a hood down that way, and he didn't get any type of shrapnel in him or nothing," said a man who saw the truck explode.