Posted on 10/14/2004 11:26:46 AM PDT by sheikdetailfeather
Investigators: Cause Of Fatal Car Explosion Unknown
POSTED: 6:39 am EDT October 14, 2004 UPDATED: 12:46 pm EDT October 14, 2004
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Kissimmee police and fire investigators are trying to figure out what caused a car to explode, killing the driver. The car was parked at a Wal-Mart near the Osceola Parkway in Kissimmee.
Matt Allison's family is struggling to comprehend the incomprehensible.
"He's gonna be greatly missed," says Bill Toler, Allison's brother-in-law.
One minute the 33-year-old husband and stepfather of two was alive and well at the 24-hour Wal-Mart. The next minute, flames consumed him and his car.
"When I got so close, I was feeling the heat. The car was making noise like it was going to blow," says eyewitness Danny Saldago.
Eyewitnesses say they saw Allison in the moments before his death walking towards his Ford Taurus. Moments later, the car exploded.
Matt Allison
"What we heard was a loud bang, and when we turn around our friends said, 'Look, look, the car's on fire,'" says eyewitness Javier Castro. "And then the car was completely on fire."
"The windows just blew out and the person was engulfed in flames very quickly," says Chief Robert King, Kissimmee Fire Department.
State investigators worked through the night to figure out what happened. They'll be analyzing evidence they took from the car and they're waiting for autopsy results. They say they've ruled out suicide and homicide and that this was most likely an awful accident.
"We've looked at the scene. We have a good hypothesis about what we think happened here," says Detective Juan Bailey, State Fire Marshal's Office. "This investigation is still unfolding."
That means Allison's family is enduring an agonizing wait for answers just hours after hearing the worst news they could ever imagine.
"I hope he can hear us and knows that we all love him, that we're all gonna miss him very much," says Toler.
Investigators say it'll take several days before they pinpoint a cause, but they say it's possible they'll never know the full story. The full story may have died along with Allison.
Copyright 2004 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
It's the voter intimidation stuff, starting early...
A few days ago car exploded in Weekhawken, NJ with a blast strong enough to break nearby windows.
Then a few days later a home in Long Island NY blew sky high leaving not a brick standing and the same thing happened THE SAME DAY in Edison, NJ.
Getting weirder.
Preemptive strikes by special forces?
that was not a home, it was a car dealership. a car dealership with 15 people in it, none of whom smelled gas and left the building - which blew up as a result of a gas explosion.
> We have a good hypothesis about what we think happened here
The last one of these, a few days ago, was a welder who
had an apparently leaky acetylene tank in the passenger
compartment.
Prayers to him and his loved ones. Fire must be one the most horrendous ways to die.
The two NJ incidents were fully explained, Gas leak in house, welding tank leak in car.
Time to put the tin foil hat away...
I was going to ask if it was a Ford product. I've had two gas tanks fall out of Fords when the straps broke.
One of the ways to tell if natural gas lines are leaking under your street is to inspect the trees along the curbs. If they are yellowing and dropping leaves long before the others and seem sickly, it's usually the gas lines leaking. Utility companies in older cities are losing as much as 30% of their natural gas from leaking old gas lines, most of which are 50 plus years old.
Ranks right up there with beheadings.
No, but even the Pinto required substantial rear impact to explode.
My take is a fuel line leak near a hot exhaust, resulting in a small gasoline fire that spread until the tank let loose. Or, maybe the guy forgot to pay his loan shark.
Good thing I just got rid of my wife's Mercury Sable... *g
I think they may be related. Are the pre-election Slammie festivities about to begin?
Leaky fuel line near exhaust manifold? Usually there's some warning, like stinking, boiling gas.
> My take is a fuel line leak near a hot exhaust,
I have an older van in which I've had two fuel fume episodes,
both corrected.
The first was deteriorating injector lines, which could have
resulted in an engine fire, given an ignition source.
The second was the body pads wearing holes in the top of
the fuel tank. That could have caused a Wal-Mart scenario.
The reason some people chose to jump from windows at the W.T.C. towers.
Agreed, but if given a choice of being burned alive or beheaded. I'd take the later.
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