A Hot Springs man was fatally injured Thursday morning when the propane tank he was cutting open exploded outside a local business.
Hot Springs police Cpl. McCrary Means said Phillip Landry, 65, was using some type of saw to cut open a large propane tank on the Sixth Street sidewalk at the intersection of Hobson Avenue when the tank exploded, broke in half and knocked Landry to the ground, according to witnesses.
Police Sgt. M. Willis told The Sentinel-Record that Landry worked at a business that makes barbecue grills and smokers and was almost finished cutting open what was supposed to be an empty propane tank when it exploded.
Landry was transported by LifeNet to St. Vincent Hot Springs, where he later died.
Bart Jones, code administrator for the Hot Springs Planning Department, said four other large propane tanks were being stored in the building owned by Ken Wheatley at the intersection of Sixth Street and Hobson Avenue, but they were moved from that site later Thursday.
"They can't be stored at that location. That type activity is not approved there and that building is not rated for that," Jones said.
Jones said the electric meter was removed from the building following the explosion and the building was tagged as unusable until some code violations unrelated to the explosion were corrected.
"However that building is used in the future, the code violations will have to be corrected," he said, noting that future uses would also have to comply with city regulations.
Carlton Scott, assistant fire marshal with the Hot Springs Fire Department, said Landry was a friend of the person who was leasing the building and no citations were issued in the incident.
Local on 06/06/2014