ORLANDO, Fla. — Fire crews are responding to reports of an explosion at an Orlando scrap metal business on Norton Avenue.
The president of Brother's Scrap Metal, Michael Leith, has confirmed one of his workers was taken to the hospital.
He said a worker was testing some metal they had just purchased for resale, which is standard procedure. He ground the metal down to get a good reading and it exploded, WFTV was told.
"No matter where you were in the building, you could hear it and see the flash," said Leith. "He's holding it down and grinding it, and as soon as the grinder hit it, it just exploded."
Authorities said there is no major damage to the business, but the explosion was big enough to burn the worker on his face, neck and arms.
"A very good worker, been here five, six, seven years, something like that," said Leith.
The employee is in critical condition.
Why the explosion happened remains a mystery to those who work at the shop. They said some metals can be dangerous but they had no reason to believe that batch was.
"Some of the items are high-risk like titanium or magnesium, but we handle them differently," Leith said.
In addition to firefighters, Orlando police documented the incident. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was notified.
WFTV