Apparent Explosion Causes Evacuation at Va. Walmart

COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. -- Hundreds of people were evacuated from the Walmart store in Colonial Heights after a propane tank apparently exploded behind the store's lawn and garden area.

Police and fire trucks blocked entrances to the Walmart Supercenter Store at 671 Southpark Blvd. only allowing cars to leave the parking lot while patrons poured out of the store and to their cars. There were no injuries in the incident.

Colonial Heights Fire Chief A.G. Moore said that while firefighters were on the scene, several hundred people, including store employees and patrons, were evacuated from the store. The evacuation was lifted around 2:20 p.m. "I don't recall anything like this ever happening that I've been to," Moore said.

Moore said that fire units were first dispatched around 1:55 p.m. for a call of a propane tank explosion. When units arrived they found a damaged cage that contained several propane tanks, and with little breeze, there was a thick odor of propane in the air.

Moore said that the fire department then used a "water curtain" to help the gas dissipate in absence of a breeze. While waiting for the gas to dissipate, cars parked near the lawn and garden department weren't allowed to leave.

"I was already at the door getting ready to leave when they told us to evacuate," said Mandy Stevenson.

Like others who had been told to leave the store, Stevenson was waiting outside to see what happened. "I asked them if this was part of a tornado drill," Stevenson said. Tuesday was a statewide tornado drill, an annual event sponsored by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. "But they told me no, that a propane tank had exploded."

Stevenson had already made her purchases, but others waiting outside the store had either just arrived when they were prevented from entering or were told to leave with carts full of merchandise left behind in the store.

"I had just pulled up and when I got inside they told us we had to evacuate," said another Walmart customer who didn't wish to be named. "Now I'm out here in the sun with my 2-year-old and they won't even let me go back to my truck or leave."

The man's truck was parked near the lawn and garden department where the air was heavy with the smell of propane.

"The store didn't tell us anything, but the fire department told us a propane tank exploded," said Cecile Santini.

Santini and Christina Jeffords were parked near the automotive and lawn and garden departments. "They told us we couldn't start our car or leave, so we're waiting," Santini said.

Nearby firefighters were deploying the water curtain to dissipate the gas.

Moore said that apparently a relief valve on one of the tanks had failed. When all the gas evacuated from the propane tank, it caused damage to the cage the tanks are stored in for safety reasons. One corner of the cage was bent upwards as firefighters continued to douse the cage area with the water curtain.

"The propane company is investigating to determine exactly how that may have happened or what caused it to happen," Moore said.

Approximately 15 Colonial Heights firefighters responded and a Chesterfield engine company responded as an automatic mutual aid, according to Moore.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service