July 14—Seattle Firefighters responded to the North Transfer Station for reports of an explosion in the Wallingford area.
At 8:24 a.m. several 911 calls came into dispatchers at the Fire Alarm Center reporting an explosion at 1350 N 34th Street. Engine Company 9 responded to the scene and found no smoke or fire.
The explosion occurred inside the metal recycling building. Someone had improperly disposed of a BBQ propane tank into the metal recycling bin. The propane tank exploded while a backhoe operator was compacting the recycled metals.
The explosion blast was contained to the metal recycling building. The safety glass on the backhoe protected the backhoe operator from any flying debris. The other workers in the yard were uninjured. The force of the blast did blow out the windows to an unoccupied transfer station truck.
There were no reports of injuries.