COLUMBUS, Ohio – Eight people were injured and one person went missing Thursday after an explosion sparked a fire at a paint factory.
The two-alarm blaze started around midnight at Majestic Paints in the city’s Near East and involved at least one explosion.
Fire officials said many workers were able to evacuate on their own, but two had to be rescued by fire crews. A total of seven people were taken to hospitals in the region. All are now considered stable.
Battalion Chief Steve Martin said an employee has still not been located and fire crews are “doing everything in their power” to locate this person.
About 40 employees were in the building when the fire broke out.
Because part of the building was damaged in an explosion that started the fire, the search and rescue process is taking longer, Martin said.
There were additional explosions when the fire burned, Martin said, including at least one in another building on the Majestic Paints campus that is within 100 feet of the main building which was on fire.
Hazmat crews and an Ohio EPA crew are on scene.
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