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Vehicle explodes after running over propane tank

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By Josh Sweigart, Staff Writer Updated 6:31 PM Tuesday, July 20, 2010

UNION TWP. — Burned-out husks are all that remain of a pickup truck and sport utility vehicle that caught fire after running over the valve of an underground propane tank in rural Warren County early Sunday morning, July 18.

When firefighters arrived at the single-family home in the 1900 block of Shawhan Road shortly after 1:30 a.m., flames from the tank were visible above the treetops, according to Union Twp. Chief Bob Napier.

Homeowner Jim McCarty said his son was celebrating his 21st birthday when one of his friends ran over the gas valve while parking his vehicle.

Napier said they heard a hissing sound coming from under the SUV, and jumped out of the vehicles. “Within a couple minutes,” both the SUV and pickup truck parked next to it were engulfed in flames when the heat from the vehicle ignited the escaping gas, he said.

Flames jumped more than 20 feet in the air, Napier said. And those on the scene told emergency dispatchers that one of the vehicles exploded.

Firefighters from Hamilton, Harlan, Turtlecreek, Union and Salem townships rushed to the scene.

After 2 a.m., the fire was kept from spreading, and firefighters could do little more than watch as a several-foot-tall geyser of fire consumed the remaining gas in the 500-gallon tank. The fire burned until 5 a.m. when the gas company responsible for the tank was able to disable it.

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