Local

Video shows moment of U-Haul explosion in Edmonds

EDMONDS, Wash. — KIRO 7 obtained dramatic video showing the moment a U-Haul truck exploded in the middle of Edmonds.

The incident happened July 6 near the Edmonds Center for the Arts.

In just seconds, an entire U-Haul moving truck was shredded to smithereens.

Video shows metal thrusting throughout a residential neighborhood, with one onlooker paralyzed by disbelief.

“It blew up all right!” said neighbor Ron Mackley as he watched the footage of the explosion for the first time.

While the security video is silent, Mackley told KIRO 7 he will never forget the ear-popping boom that burst through his apartment complex.

“At the time, I had noise-canceling headphones on, and I heard it through them. It was that loud,” he said.

Footage shows that Mackley is actually one of the first people to investigate the blast.

In the minute that it took him to get to the scene, flames already shot out of the U-Haul’s wreckage.

“I felt sorry for the piano in the truck,” he joked. “I thought Jerry Lee Louis ‘Great Balls of Fire.’”

Security video shows emergency workers on the scene in a few minutes.

Faced with such a sudden, violent eruption, officers ordered onlookers to go back inside.

Yet, as witnesses told KIRO 7 on the day of the explosion, the damage was already done.

“The back of the U-Haul blew all the way to our trash, 150 feet away,” said resident Kylie Hollenbeck.

Currently, Edmonds police said they still believe the blast was caused by a leaking propane tank.

Given how violent the eruption was, police added it’s truly incredible nobody was hurt or killed.

KIRO 7 also asked Edmonds police about any possible charges in this case.

They said the renter of the U-Haul truck was cooperative from the start, and it appears that he did nothing wrong.