On January 18th, 2008 crews from Shawnee Township Fire Department were investigating a gas leak at the Tuttle Construction building.  After confirming that the structure had been evacuated, crews were attempting to find the source of the leak and a plan of action to stabilize the situation, when a catastrophic explosion occurred.  Two STFD firefighters were at the explosion point as well as two civilian contractors and a employee of Dominion Gas.  All five received non-life threatening injuries.  After the explosion, and subsequent “may day” for firefighters down, additional alarms were transmitted bringing American Township Fire Dept. and Lima Fire Dept. to the scene.  ATFD responded with E1912, E1915, C1901 and L1931 along with additional man power. As the pictures show the building was a total loss. The following pictures are from ATFD, STFD, cell phones, and The Lima News courtesy of photographer

Craig J. Orosz.

Hear the radio traffic from the incident at this link: