Seven people were missing after a fireworks warehouse in Esparto, California, caught fire and exploded Tuesday.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), Esparto Fire Protection District and Yolo County Office of Emergency Services said Wednesday that the fire and explosion happened at 6:02 p.m. Tuesday local time. A specific cause of the fire was not mentioned.
The responding agencies did not identify any of the seven missing people, nor did they confirm whether the missing people were working at the warehouse at the time of the blast. Locals compared the blast’s power to earthquakes.
“I woke up out of a dead sleep and I thought it was an earthquake. I felt the whole apartment shake, the windows rattle. … When I was outside looking at the smoke and everything, I felt another explosion that shook everything — the cement, the ground, the stairways, everything,” nearby resident