An explosion at a Seattle motel on Monday morning left at least one person badly burned, authorities reported.
Rescue officials from the Seattle Fire Department evacuated the people inside the Klose-In Motel on the 9330 block of Aurora Avenue just after 11:15 Monday morning, Q13 Fox reported.
SFD spokesperson Kyle Moore told My Northwest.com that one man was sustained serious burns and critical injuries from the blast.
"There seems to be an explosion inside a room and we had one patient that was inside that room that suffered burns to their body," Moore stated.
Seattle Fire officials transferred the man, who was reportedly in his 40s, to Harborview Medical Center nearby to receive treatment for his wounds and burns.
Although it's not clear what exactly caused the explosion, an initial investigation suggested natural gases created the blast. Authorities turned off the gas and electricity at the motel while evacuating the inhabitants to ensure no other outbreaks could occur.
Photos of the damage at the Aurora Avenue motel showed a wrecked room whose entire back wall had been completely blown out. Debris littered the immediate area, and some neighboring rooms' walls were knocked down.
"We want to talk to the burn patient, what they were doing before the explosion occurred, where they were in the room, what other products were in that room, and that may help us determine what caused this explosion," Moore said, adding that law enforcement officials were taking close looks at the building to assess whether a construction malfunction could have contributed to the explosion.
Emergency response crews closed two southbound lanes and one northbound in the immediate vicinity of the motel, while other traffic was moved out of the way of the site of the blast.
This is a developing story. Check later for more details.
