Blast kills man near Nellis Air Force Base
A man died when a tanker-trailer exploded and blew a gaping hole in the roof of a privately owned truck depot building adjacent to Nellis Air Force Base late Friday morning.
Firefighters responded to the explosion at the commercial truck repair company Nevada Truck and Trailer Repair, 4915 Sloan Lane, and found a tanker-trailer that was pulled into the garage area and covered. The building also has a fueling site for fleet vehicles.
The facility is about 400 yards from the base’s fuel tank farm, where jet fuel is stored.
Clark County Fire Department Deputy Fire Chief Erik Newman said the fire that followed the blast was extinguished in about five minutes.
“Most of the damage was on the tanker itself,” he said. “The explosion did put out a lot of what I call shrapnel.”
The dead man wasn’t immediately identified, although the company’s general counsel Jayson Javitz did confirm he was an employee of Nevada Truck and Trailer Repair.
The cause of death will be determined by the Clark County coroner’s office.
The man was inside the garage when the blast occurred, Newman said. He did not pinpoint where the explosion happened but noted, “I would say he was near ground zero.”
Nellis spokesman Ben Newell said the explosion happened at 11:26 a.m. near the Range Road gate to the base.
No civilians or first-responders were injured, Newman said.
The company’s primary concern is the safety of our employees, Javitz said. The company brought in a grief counselor for employees.
Twelve firefighters from Nellis responded to the fire with three vehicles, a pumper truck, a rescue vehicle and a water tanker. Nellis also closed off one gate at Beale Street and Las Vegas Boulevard as a precaution, but did not implement any on-base measures, according to Newell.
“We were next door,” PILOT Flying J employee Mike Keblitis said. “We heard the explosion and felt the ground shake. We looked next door and we could see the building blown apart.”
Police and firefighters evacuated adjacent buildings while investigating and clearing up the debris.
Also on scene were personnel from the Metropolitan Police Department.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched an investigation to determine if there were any safety issues or violations, according to OSHA spokeswoman Teri Williams.
OSHA could provide no further information because it’s an ongoing investigation, she said.
Williams said Nevada Truck and Trailer Repair has been cited for some safety violations from an inspection in March, but none of them have been determined to be related to the explosion.
Javitz confirmed there were safety issues, but that they have been recently resolved and were unrelated to the explosion. The cause of the blast had not yet been determined as of Friday night.
Contact reporter Rochel Leah Goldblatt at rgoldblatt@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0264. Review-Journal writers Keith Rogers, Brian Haynes and Mike Blasky contributed to this report.
