Blast Levels Camarillo Packing Plant
An explosion in the tomato-ripening section of a packing house leveled much of the building and critically injured one man Thursday night.
“There was no fire. We know ethylene was involved, but we don’t know how,” said Ventura County fire dispatcher Shonna Matthews.
The explosion rocked the Milton Poulos Corp. plant in the 300 block of East 5th Street at 5:25 p.m. The explosion occurred in the tomato-ripening area where a gas process is used to prepare the vegetables.
“Basically what we’ve got is a building that came down. We’re about five miles away and it hit us like a sonic boom,” Matthews said.
A 45-year-old man, assumed to be an employee, was hospitalized in critical condition with multiple injuries, Matthews said.
Investigators did not know the cause of the blast or a damage amount.
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