Explosion shatters shopping center and injures 23 — but it could have been so much worse

Jul. 7--People heard the boom across Broward on Saturday morning and wondered if it was a bomb, leftover holiday fireworks -- or even an earthquake.

Authorities initially said they thought a gas leak caused the explosion that rocked a Plantation shopping center, injured 23 people, destroyed businesses and knotted traffic for miles. A formal finding on the cause is still to come.

Rescue crews found patients scattered across a debris field that stretched for a few hundred yards. Yet they were surprised to find no one had been killed.

The center of the mysterious explosion appeared to be a former restaurant, Pizzafire, at Market on University, 1025 South University Drive.

Agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with the Broward Sheriff's bomb squad, were investigating into the evening.

"We suspect it was a (gas leak,)" said Plantation Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Joel Gordon, relaying the discovery of a ruptured gas line. "We haven't ruled out anything yet."

The blast was possibly the worst in almost 35 years. In 1985, a blast at a Midas Muffler shop on University Drive in Davie killed four and injured eight people. The early morning explosion destroyed the store and damaged dozens of nearby homes and businesses.

Posts on social media reported that the Plantation blast was heard about six miles to the west near Weston and about four miles to the east near the Turnpike, as well as other cities to the north and south.

About a dozen neighboring businesses in the shopping center, including LA Fitness, sustained extensive damage, including shattered windows, collapsed walls, fallen shelves and broken equipment and furniture.

The blast even triggered airbags in some cars parked nearby.

Officials said 19 people were taken to hospitals for treatment, including one child and one adult who were taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.

Broward Health spokeswoman Jennifer Smith said the pediatric patient had been discharged by Saturday evening and the adult was in fair condition with unspecified injuries.

Four people who were wounded refused treatment at a scene that resembled a war zone.

Gordon said first responders treated "what we call classic blast-related injuries," such as ringing ears and cuts and bruises from flying debris.

No broken bones were reported, but one man used a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding from a shrapnel wound, he said.

"The injuries were not as severe as we would have thought they would be," Gordon said.

A stroke of good fortune came as a neighboring business, a computer learning store for children, was not open at the time. The store, Code Ninjas, was destroyed in the explosion.

"We are fortunate to have been closed today and all our Ninjas, Senseis and Directors are safe," the operators posted on Facebook. "Our thoughts and prayers are now with all those families who were affected attending the other shops in the area."

Police Sgt. Jessica Ryan said no one was found trapped in the rubble. Concerned family members looking for loved ones were asked to gather at Central Park, 9151 N.W. 2nd Place.

Fire Rescue initially had trouble getting close to the blast site because debris blocked access roads.

Amanda Buscemi said her pediatric dentistry practice, Super Smiles, was destroyed.

"My diploma and stuff was in the streets," said Buscemi, who remembered there was a gas leak a few months ago at the shopping center that forced an evacuation.

The explosion and investigation forced the closure of many nearby businesses and roads for hours.

Just before the blast, Evan Hoffman, 47, of Davie, was working out with his wife, Stacey, at LA Fitness.

"A huge, huge bang," he said. "It started shaking back and forth and the roof tiles started crashing down and the power went out."

"We saw good Samaritans carrying the injured," Hoffman said.

Michael von Friedrich, 48, of Davie, said he was in a Zumba class on the second floor of LA Fitness during the explosion. The music was loud, but the group of about 30 people all stopped and looked at one other.

"We all heard it and knew something didn't sound right," he said after the building was evacuated.

Sharif Mohamed, another evacuee, said he left his car behind -- the BMW's front and back windshields were shattered, the hood was dented and glass and debris were littered inside.

"The pizza building looked like ground zero," he said.

Steven Schwartz, who owns ChiroCare a few storefronts away, said he wasn't able to access the business. In photos, it looks completely destroyed, he said. He hoped to assess the damage in person on Monday.

Schwartz said he opened the practice about three years ago and has been building it up to its full potential ever since. It's become one of his top-performing locations, he said.

"You make an investment like that, and it's finally starting to pay off, and then it gets destroyed and you basically have to start over," he said.

Schwartz was surprised more people weren't hurt.

"That area is usually busy on Saturdays, with people walking on that side of the plaza to and from Tropical Smoothie Café and LA Fitness," he said. "If it wasn't July 4th weekend, it would have been a different story."

Carrie Reuter stood behind crime scene tape at the nearby The Fountains plaza at 801 South University Drive. That's where her business, Motion Stretch, was supposed to open next week.

She said all four of her security cameras had blank images and she feared the extent of the damage.

"An entire staff of people were getting ready to open," Reuter said.

Erez Yacob, a stylist at the M. Evans Salon, also in The Fountains, said he was blow drying a client's hair when the explosion rattled the store.

"We heard a strong boom, and one second after, everything exploded in the shop and out in the street," he said, adding that the salon's glass windows blew out and all of the shelves inside fell to the floor.

"It's crazy," Yacob said. "We thought it was a car or a bombing because everything (the building across the street) disappeared."

Lynn Kline, the salon's owner, said customers rushed to their cars, some with half-haircuts and foil in their hair still.

"We didn't know if there was going to be another explosion so we immediately grabbed customers and went out the back emergency door," she said. "We are so lucky no one was hurt."

Staff writers Aric Chokey, Linda Trischitta, Brittany Wallman and Laurel Weibezahn contributed to this report.

Get breaking news updates like this in your email

Enter your email address in the box below and press "Subscribe."

You can unsubscribe at any time

___

(c)2019 the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at www.sun-sentinel.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.