(A man was seriously burned Tuesday night inside this storage unit behind a building at 18 Hangar Way in Watsonville. Photo by Tarmo Hannula/Pajaronian)
WATSONVILLE—A 30-year-old-man is currently being treated at a Bay Area trauma burn center after an explosion burned half of his body late Tuesday night in Watsonville.
Photos were provided to local news station KSBW of a storage pod behind the building at 18 Hangar Way where the explosion occurred. The photos showed materials that appeared to be those of an illegal hash oil lab.
The man who was burned was able to walk into the emergency room of the nearby Watsonville Community Hospital, where he was eventually transferred to the trauma center.
Sgt. Mish Radich of the Watsonville Police Department said that by the time officers were notified on Wednesday, all that was left was an empty storage container that had its roof and front door blown off. All evidence of the space being used as a hash lab was gone.
The burned man worked for Future 2 Labs, a cannabis start-up out of Santa Cruz, Radich said. Last year, Future 2 Labs applied for a permit to manufacture marijuana near the same Watsonville site as the explosion.
The City of Watsonville had denied the request, accusing the company of “false and misleading statements,” Principal Planner Justin Meek said last November.
The cause of Tuesday’s explosion is still unknown, but Radich told KSBW that they were assuming it was an industrial accident.
The incident is still under investigation.
