Natural gas leak investigated in body shop blast

Tom Gardner

Friday, April 30, 1999 | 9:14 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Fire investigators believe a leak in a natural gas line may have fueled an explosion that leveled an automobile body shop and sent its owner's son to a hospital in critical condition.

They were to return today to further examine a gas meter at the building where the blast collapsed the top floor down to the ground level and fire sent toxic smoke skyward above the 21-story Reno Hilton across the street.

"It looked like a rocket had gone up through the roof and everything was just opened up," said Linda Carter, who owns the Springtime Gardens nursery next to the Maaco Auto Painting & Bodyworks shop.

"It looked like a truck or something had driven into the front of the building," she said.

Three men were in the building at the time of the blast, which happened shortly before 7 a.m., according to Reno Fire Chief Chuck Lowden.

Two, including owner Jerry Tomac, were only shaken up.

But Tomac's son, David, was at the back of the building and was trapped under part of the collapsed ceiling. Fire crews had to use power equipment to cut through the timbers to free him.

He was admitted to nearby Washoe Medical Center in critical condition with head injuries.

Black smoke poured from the building most of the morning as flames alternately died down and then flared as cans of paint and solvents continued exploding.

Firefighters let the fire burn itself out because it was smoldering beneath the rubble where streams from the hoses couldn't reach it.

They also placed temporary dams around storm sewers to divert water from flowing into the Truckee River a block away to outlets carrying it to a treatment plant.

Bulldozers stood by to spread the debris once the flames died down so investigators could inspect the suspect gas meter, Lowden said.