ORLANDO, Fla. — Two people are dead, three others in the hospital after a warehouse caught fire and fireworks exploded Thursday evening in Orlando, according to Orange County Fire Rescue.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office identified the two who died as David Gonzalez, 22, and 23-year-old Lindsey Phillips, FOX 35 reported.
Around 7:10 p.m., crews responded to the fire as a "building fire" but learned while on their way to the scene that people were trapped inside. Adding to the chaos — fireworks were going off, Battalion Chief Garrett Wienckowski with Orange County Fire Rescue told reporters during a news conference.
"I had heavy fire through the roof in the back corner of the building, made an immediate second alarm out of this, we had crews make an aggressive interior attack with heavy fire and fireworks all around them," the chief said.
The estimated 20,000-square-foot building was used to store fireworks and was connected to a furniture warehouse, which was not affected by the fire.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but the chief said the fire ignited a "chain reaction" throughout the building and added, "you could see the explosions from outside the building."
More than 80 firefighters and 31 units ended up at the scene, according to Orange County Fire Rescue's Twitter.
Wienckowski says the state fire marshal will investigate the fire and local fire crews will do a continuous fire watch to confirm there is no possibility of a rekindle.
He also confirmed that no firefighters were injured.
