Dec. 20--DANBURY -- Heading in for an early shift in his security position at Danbury Hospital Friday, Jerry Valdez decided to pick up a cup of coffee at Dunkin Donuts before filling up his gas tank.
Coffee in his cupholder, Valdez waited for a green light to pull into Wheels Gas Station at 27 Tamarack Ave. Then he noticed an abrupt orange glow in the corner of his eye.
"All I saw was the orange fireball," he said Friday afternoon, pointing toward the second bay in Wheels Gas Station.
An unidentified 60-year-old man from Danbury suffered extensive burns -- "over most of his body" -- when an explosion occurred as he pumped gas into his vehicle, Danbury Police Lt. Christian Carroccio said in a statement.
The explosion occurred at about 6:23 a.m. and Danbury Fire Department and Danbury police officers responded to the scene.
The victim was transported first to Danbury Hospital then later transported to the Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital.
A spokesperson for Bridgeport Hospital said the victim was in critical condition Friday afternoon.
Hours after the incident, a pair of yellow plastic "Out of Service" bags covered the two pumps in the station's second bay, its sheet metal and concrete curb stained black.
Details on the cause of the explosion were not available Friday. An employee and management at Wheels Gas Station declined to comment.
Efforts to reach Danbury's fire marshal on Friday were not successful.
But Valdez, an eyewitness to explosion, described a terrifying scene.
Smoke and flames rolled out of the pump while staff members rushed toward it with fire extinguishers, he said.
"I saw people running like in a movie," he said.
He pulled across the street and into the station but, seeing the flames extinguished quickly, he pulled away. But a look in his rearview mirror as he headed to work revealed a tragic outcome.
"When I left the gas station I looked back and saw a person on the ground," he said. "He was on fire."
City police asked that anyone who witnessed the incident call the Danbury Police Detective Bureau at 203-797-4662.
[email protected], @domalleynt, 203-731-3350
Copyright 2013 - The News-Times, Danbury, Conn.
