Fire crews and news crews are en route and already on scene in Westlake at Crocker Park after a propane tank exploded shortly before 11 a.m., creating a fire and, as you can see in the video below filmed by Abby Carlson and posted by WKYC, a huge fireball.

No injuries have been reported, and all construction workers who were on site at the future American Greetings headquarters building have reportedly been accounted for. 

Police have mostly cordoned off the area surrounding Crocker Park, diverting southbound traffic at Detroit Road. The public has been asked to stay away from the area, though traffic was pouring into the adjacent strip mall — the “Giant Eagle plaza,” in local parlance — in the aftermath of the blast. (The explosion site seems fairly contained; shoppers were quietly milling about the central part of Crocker Park, around Barnes and Noble, as the morning went on.)

Social media reports have area residents as far as a mile away hearing and/or feeling the explosion. An employee at Barnes and Noble told Scene that “it was pretty crazy.” Most businesses at Crocker Park appeared to be open as of 11:50 a.m.


This next video is shared courtesy Sarah Kurth from Vitality Health:

The aftermath Credit: Photo courtesy of Michael Hitch

This post will be updated when more information becomes available throughout the day.

This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2016.

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.

Eric Sandy is an award-winning Cleveland-based journalist. For a while, he was the managing editor of Scene. He now contributes jam band features every now and then.

8 replies on “Video: Explosion, Fireball Rocks Crocker Park”

  3. That is a bad sound at the scene of any fire involving compressed gases (the “jet engine” roar that is the tank’s overpressure vent operating before the actual explosion).

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