WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Investigators suspect a man was killed Wednesday when a gas can exploded inside a mobile home where candles were burning due to a power outage from Hurricane Jeanne. Three other people escaped unscathed through a window.
Juan Gutierrez, 25, a landscaping business employee, was trapped and died in the fire that erupted shortly after midnight in his unit at the Twin Lakes mobile home park.
The four roommates were using the gas can to fill up their car, said the Palm Beach County sheriff's office. Gas has become a precious commodity in the hurricane zone, where many stations aren't selling gas because they have no electricity for the pumps or can't get enough deliveries to refresh their supply.
The fatal fire brings Florida's death toll from Jeanne to eight.
In another hurricane-related death, garbage truck driver Craig Cecere, 35, of Port St. Lucie was electrocuted Tuesday after his vehicle ran into a live power line and he grabbed a handrail.
The Waste Management truck hit a low-hanging wire strung between two power poles, police said. The two men hanging on the back of the truck saw the wire before the driver, jumped off and screamed to warn Cecere.
He stopped, got out but then ran back toward the cab. The two other men could not say why he tried to get back inside, officials said.
``The recovery phase includes things like this, unfortunately,'' said St. Lucie County fire Capt. Nate Spera.
``This is why we advise people to stay indoors'' and off the roads, said officer Rob Vega, a police spokesman.
