After the drug laboratory explosion in St. Petersburg on Wednesday, the residents of an apartment were allowed to return home after evacuating overnight due to the blast, said the apartment complex’s management.
Sudden Explosion
A woman involved in the incident that answered the Alta Mar’s main office phone said that residents of the apartment were allowed to go back to their units at a much earlier time than expected around Thursday morning. However, she was not able to give an exact time they would be allowed to return.
The explosion occurred in one unit of the complex at 3906 34th Terrace S shortly after 3:00 p.m. The blast forced the evacuation of 11 other residents as a precaution to potential after explosions.
Officials were blocking off residents of the apartments in the complex as of 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday after the Tampa Bomb Squad, which was responsible for investigating the explosion, discovered “volatile chemicals’ in the area. The St. Petersburg Police Department said people who were inside their apartments when the explosion happened immediately ran outside.
On Thursday, spokeswoman Sandra Bentil said that the investigation of the police regarding the explosion was still on-going. The agency did not disclose if the people involved in the incident would face any charges. The chemicals and type of drugs found in the scene remained classified to the public.
Methamphetamine has caused similar explosions in the past years in the Tampa Bay Area. A meth lab exploded back in 2013 at Brandon barn, which severely burned a man. Two years before that, a lab inside a Dade City home blew up and injured two people, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Authorities evacuated a St. Petersburg motel in 2006 after they discovered a meth lab in one of the rooms. At the time, it was only the second meth lab officials found within the city’s limits.
