HOOKSETT, N.H. --
A man was sent to a hospital Monday after the tanker truck he was working on exploded.
Fire officials said the man was underneath the truck inside a JP Noonan building in Hooksett when the truck exploded, sending debris shooting through the roof. Fire spread to the building.
Fire officials said the man was underneath the truck inside a JP Noonan building in Hooksett when the truck exploded, sending debris shooting through the roof.
Another employee jumped in the cab and drove it out of the garage as flames billowed out of the tanker.
"I guess I didn't even look," said Bill Flint, who drove the truck out. "The other people told me (the flames) were 20 or 30 feet in the air. I just wanted to get the trailer out of there."
Fire crews doused the tanker with water for hours. Officials said it had a small amount of petroleum in it at the time. About a dozen employees were evacuated.
"We've used the thermal engine camera to see if there's heat inside, and it appears the heat inside is equal to the heat outside the tank," said Assitant Chief Dean Jore.
The man working on the tanker was transported to Catholic Medical Center with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
JP Noonan is an oil and industrial transport company. Roads in the immediate area of 240 Londonderry Turnpike were closed as crews responded to the explosion.
Ron Mailhiot said some of the debris landed on the property of his auto body shop about 150 yards away. The tanker exploded just as he drove his car up.
"I was just getting ready to turn it off and opened the door, and that's when the explosion occurred," he said. "I laid on the ground because I thought projectiles were going through the side of the doors."
Some of the cars in Mailhiot's lot were damaged by debris.
This car suffered damage from debris that was sent flying by the explosion.
Fire officials said the building sustained serious structural damage, and it's being evaluated by engineers.
The Department of Environmental Services dispatched a team to the area to monitor the situation but said there was no contamination of a nearby pond. Water and foam used by firefighters ran to the back of the property.
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