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An explosion Wednesday at Carmel High School has injured two people, one with severe burns, according to Carmel Fire Department.
Carmel firefighter Tim Griffin, the department spokesman, said a school employee and a contractor had been working on a heater and were attempting to relight it when the explosion occurred. It was not immediately known which person received the severe burns.
Griffin said about 9:45 p.m. that both people were conscious, but he did not know their conditions. They were taken to Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis.
He said the damage occurred on the second floor near the school’s gymnasium and pool. The blast caused “fairly significant damage” to a wall and the roof, Griffin said. Engineering crews from the city government were expected to visit the site Thursday to survey the damage and access the building’s stability.
The department said on Twitter that the explosion occurred on the northwest corner of the high school and was believed to have come from a mechanical room where work was being performed. The fire was marked under control at about 6:45 p.m.
The school is on winter break, but student athletes were in the school during the explosion. No students were physically hurt.
A boys basketball game set for Thursday afternoon against Anderson and a girls basketball game set for Thursday night against Kokomo have been postponed. No dates set yet for rescheduling the games, which were to be played at the school.
Children at the school were moved to the Carmel Stadium locker rooms. That’s where parents could pick up the children. All activities at the school for Wednesday night were canceled.
Multiple people called 911 about the explosion.
Dina Kancs lives by Carmel High School on 3rd Avenue Northeast. She told the Hamilton County Reporter that she “definitely heard the explosion.”
“The whole neighborhood ran out to make sure we were all okay … saw the fire alarms going off at Carmel High School and sirens showed up pretty immediately afterwards,” Kancs said.
The fire department’s first tweet about the fire was sent at 6:20 p.m. It was not immediately clear when the explosion was first reported.