Media Writing Lab #4

Explosion near Kaufman County injures two teenage boys

By Jonathan Graham
Staff Writer

An explosion at a residence on FM 2727 last night injured four people, including two teenage boys who were airlifted from the scene.

They were apparently trying to open a 55-gallon barrel with a cutting torch just before 8 p.m., at a residence in Cerro Gordo County near the border of the City of Kaufman when the incident happened. According to a Cerro Gordo County Fire Marshall spokesman, the barrel had some sort of liquid inside it that appeared to be oil, and it was likely vapors from this that exploded.

“This is really unfortunate,” said Assistant Fire Marshall Randy Richards, “but it appears that they will all be okay.”

Two of the boys were taken from the scene by CareFlight helicopter to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. One refused treatment, and the other, aged 17, was possibly treated for first and second-degree burns on his hands and face. His parents were notified by the Fire Department around 8:05 p.m.

“We were really scared when we got that phone call,” said the 17-year-old boy’s mother, who wished to keep her and her son’s identity anonymous, “you can’t imagine how fast my heart was beating.”

According to conflicting sources, the boys were supposedly cutting the barrel for either a school project, or to make a go-kart. The barrel is not believed to be illegal, but where it came from or how the boys came into contact with it is not yet known.