A Holden man is fighting for his life after a freak car explosion rocked a local street on Saturday morning, officials said. The 55-year-old victim was rescued from under his vehicle by quick-acting neighbors, following the blast that left his car in shambles. The State Fire Marshal's Office confirmed that they responded to multiple 911 calls at approximately 9:15 a.m. in the 200 block of Brattle Street, NBC10 Boston reports.
Witnesses described the sound of the explosion as akin to a bomb, with Laura Marcelino recounting the terrifying moment, "I thought it was like a bomb or something because it was so loud and we were down in the basement level and I could feel the ground shaking," she told NBC10 Boston, emphasizing the chaos that ensued as neighbors rushed to aid the injured man towards safety, even though the cacophony and debris was a scene from a nightmare. The Holden fire and police departments have kept the man's identity under wraps as of now, and while his car suffered catastrophic damage, remarkably there was no significant fire damage to the surrounding structures.
The man, whose injuries are severe yet non-life-threatening, was transported to a local hospital. A joint statement issued by Holden Fire Chief Russell Hall, Holden Police Chief Timothy J. Sherblom, and State Fire Marshal Jon M. Davine emphasized the significant damage to the vehicle, as noted in MassLive. Investigators at the scene discovered an acetylene tank in the trunk of the car, provided an explanation for the explosion: the tank, often used in welding and cutting applications due to its highly flammable nature, had apparently leaked while the car was parked overnight.
Although the initial source of ignition remains a mystery the authorities are operating on the assumption that the explosion was accidental, with a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services clarifying that "a leak in a confined space could be ignited by the smallest spark, so it poses a grave danger of fire or explosion," according to an email statement to MassLive. The joint investigation led by local Holden officials and Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the State Fire Marshal's Office is still ongoing to pinpoint how, not just the man's quiet Saturday morning but also his life was so dramatically upended in a literal blink of an eye.
Acutely aware of the precarious dance between fate and physic, neighbors like Scot Bourgeois, still reeling from the shock, recounted his initial panic upon hearing the blast: "I ran down in my basement to make sure it wasn't my water heater or anything," he said, while another neighbor marveled at the man's luck, having heard he suffered perhaps only wrist injuries. This sentiment was echoed among residents, a collective breath held then released, as news spread that the injuries sustained were serious but not fatal, as detailed in an update from WCVB. Still, even as they count his fortunes, the community, much like the man who now lies in a hospital bed wrestling with the unfixed jigsaw of his future, can't shake off the overture of just how thinly veiled the line between routine and calamity truly is.
