PROSPERITY, SC (WACH) - An explosion at a recycling plant near Newberry has the owner of the plant taking a closer look at safety measures taken at the business.
Around 9 a.m. Thursday a worker at Prosperity Metal Recycling was moving old cars with machinery when one of the the cars sparked and caught the vehicles gas tank on fire causing an explosion, according to Robert Thornhill, who is the owner of the recycling plant.
Thornhill says the explosion caught three other cars on fire and the flames spanned a 50 to 60 foot diameter. The employee was within five feet of the explosion, but was unharmed.
Two fire stations responded to extinguish the flames.
Thornhill says he takes the incident as a sign that his company needs to take greater precautions to make sure gas tanks are empty in the cars they work with.
No one was injured in the explosion.
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