FedEx Truck Explosion in San Francisco: Police Investigating (updated, caused by fireworks package)

[The Straight Story]

San Francisco police are investigating an explosion on a FedEx truck in the city’s SOMA district.

The explosion happened near 6th Street and Tehama Street, according to ABC.

The city’s emergency department told the public via Twitter at 2:23 p.m. PDT to “Avoid the general South of Market area for the next hour near Tehama & Howard around 5th & 6th as traffic is disrupted for police activity.”

Story is developing; will be updated

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/220859-fedex-truck-explosion-in-san-francisco-police-investigating/

****UPDATE, cause below:

Francisco firefighters responded to an explosion involving a FedEx truck in the city's South of Market neighborhood Wednesday afternoon that was apparently caused by a package containing fireworks, a fire spokeswoman said.

The explosion was reported at 2:01 p.m. near Sixth and Tehama streets, fire department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said.

No one was injured in the explosion, Talmadge said.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Oh my God!

My first thought is that it was a random act of terror; someone shipped a time bomb.

Or maybe the bomb was intended for a specific destination and went off prematurely, before it was delivered.

My heart goes out to any and all victims.

[The Straight Story]

2. A little more coming via twitter (will update when I get more)

#BREAKING: Police investigating explosion on a FedEx truck near 6th and Tehama in SF's SOMA District #CA. @abc7newsBayArea

KTVU ?@KTVU 4m

#BREAKING #San Francisco #Muni service diverted in area of 5th and Tehema due to police activity

[Kelvin Mace]

3. Or, someone got careless with a cigarette

and the contents of the truck caught fire, then the gas tank went off.

Let's wait for more reliable information before jumping to conclusions

[Jackpine Radical]

4. First, I wasn't offering "conclusion."

I was just reporting the first thoughts of this particular paranoid citizen.

Second, your hypothesis strikes me as wildly unlikely--even more unlikely than my first reaction.

[The Straight Story]

5. To All: Fireworks:

Francisco firefighters responded to an explosion involving a FedEx truck in the city's South of Market neighborhood Wednesday afternoon that was apparently caused by a package containing fireworks, a fire spokeswoman said.

The explosion was reported at 2:01 p.m. near Sixth and Tehama streets, fire department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said.

No one was injured in the explosion, Talmadge said.

[Jackpine Radical]

6. I'm really glad that it wasn't a bomb, as my sick little mind first feared.

And even more than that, I'm incredibly glad there were no injuries.

That does leave the question of what kind of idiot ships fireworks around, as well as the question of whether it's within FedEx's rules to allow such cargo

[Kelvin Mace]

7. How was my theory "wildly unlikely"

Cigarettes are far more common than bombs. Cardboard boxes are rather flammable. Once a truck full of cardboard boxes starts burning the gas tank is a danger.

But, the explanation was far more mundane:

When officers arrived, however, they could not find any sign that an explosion had occurred, Turner said.

Witness Joyce Best was visiting her mother in one of the apartments overlooking the alley.

"Next thing you know there was a Fed-Ex truck in the alley and [the driver] just took off running away from it," Best told KTVU.

A bomb squad responded and Tehama and Sixth streets were shut down, but the streets reopened about an hour later.

The FedEx truck appeared to be intact, and the driver declined to speak with reporters at the scene.

Turner said it is possible that someone threw a firecracker in the area of the truck.

I apologize for my imprecise wording. I simply meant that folks, in general, should not speculate about breaking situations until more facts are known. It was meant as a general caution, but I see that my post was read as censure, which again, was my fault.

[Jackpine Radical]

8. I guess I was actually confessing something about my febrile imagination

rather than actually suggesting it was a bomb.

BTW, IIRC it's pretty hard to light a cardboard box with a cigarette because cigarettes have relatively low burning temperatures.

[Kelvin Mace]

9. You are correct...

I work in a shipping department and am around UPS/FedEx truck all the time. You can't light cardboard on fire easily with a cigarette, but there are plenty of other packing materials that will go up quickly. Some types of packing peanuts burn very nicely (I speak as someone who has taken a fire extinguisher to such a fire caused by a improperly extinguished ciggy).

Brown paper, shrink-wrap and shredded newspaper are commonly used to protect items in a box, and they get everywhere in trucks and shipping areas.