San Diego hotel being built hit by apparent blast

AP via Newsday ^ | 6:15 PM EDT, May 19, 2008 | ALLISON HOFFMAN

[james500]

Several floors of a Hilton hotel under construction in downtown San Diego have been badly damaged in an apparent explosion. There are no immediate reports of injuries.

About four lower floors of the waterfront skyscraper near the San Diego Convention Center showed serious damage after the Monday afternoon incident.

[old-and-old]

check insurance claims. Cynical, yes, but in a bad market

[dead]

Headline Yoda being written by.

[Gondring]

Wow... the market must be bad...you considered insurance fraud before knee-jerking to terrorism!

[james500]

It’s a very large building. The damage is minor in totality but it is a mess over there.

[gridlock]

SHHHHH! The fire's not 'till next week!

[TomServo]

lol...

[freema]

Cindy, there have been quite a few explosions in San Diego of late, correct?

[gridlock]

Of course, you can’t count out the ELFs or EF! types just yet...

[july4thfreedomfoundation]

My first thought was environmentalist wackos such as ELF.

[streetpreacher]

Yes, but did the steel beams melt?? Rosie wants to know!!

[MediaMole]

Stylebook AP apparently lost editor by.

[old-and-old]

A CIA officer seen in CA last year ;)

[R_Kangel]

Construction site mishap.

[freema]

Sun May 4, 2008
FBI looks into San Diego courthouse explosion

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/04/courthouse.explosion/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The FBI recovered more than 100 nails and shrapnel as far as two blocks from the courthouse, Foxworth said. Investigators believe the bomb may be linked to a blast April 25 that shattered the glass door of a FedEx building in San Diego

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/AP/story/527971.html

[Cindy]

Thank you freema for the links.

I posted this update in The Threat Matrix awhile back:

#

May 16, 2008

Note: The following text is a quote:

http://sandiego.fbi.gov/pressrel/2008/sd051608.htm

For Immediate Release
May 16, 2008

Joint Terrorism Task Force Makes Arrest as a
Result of Courthouse Bombing Investigation

United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced that Rachelle Lynette Carlock, age 31, was arraigned today in federal court in El Centro before Magistrate Judge Peter C. Lewis on a felony complaint charging Carlock with use of a false identification document, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 842(a)(2) and (i)(1) and 1028(a)(7), respectively. At the time of the hearing , the government requested that the defendant be detained based upon risk of flight and danger to the community. The detention has been scheduled for May 21, 2008 at 10:00am before Magistrate Judge Lewis in El Centro. The defendant is next scheduled to be in court on May 29, 2008, at 1:30 p.m., for a preliminary examination before Magistrate Judge Lewis.

Carlock, was arrested on Thursday, May 15, 2008, at approximately 2:47 p.m. in the vicinity of 35th and National Avenue, San Diego, California, by members of the San Diego FBI SWAT team.

Also in connection with this matter federal search warrants were executed at 2952 40th Street and 3868 Teak Street, San Diego, California. The FBI’s Evidence Response Teams (ERT) responded to the locations and collected items of evidentiary value.

The Joint Terrorism Task Force has an ongoing investigation concerning the May 4, 2008 bombing of the U.S. District Courthouse. No person has yet been charged for that crime.

An arrest itself is not evidence that the defendant committed the crimes charged. The defendant is presumed innocent until the government meets its burden in court of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

[Cindy]

UPDATE:

Note: Photo included.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080519-1513-hotelexplosion.html

“12 hurt in blast at bayfront hotel under construction”

SIGNONSANDIEGO NEWS SERVICES
3:13 p.m. May 19, 2008

JOHN McCUTCHEN / Union-Tribune

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “SAN DIEGO – An explosion of unknown origin damaged several floors of a hotel under construction near Petco Park Monday, injuring at least 12 people and hurling glass, metal and other debris over the site.
People throughout the Marina area and miles away reported hearing a loud blast near the San Diego Convention Center on West Harbor Drive shortly after 2 p.m., according to police.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Initial reports indicate that the explosion appeared to have been centered in rooms containing mechanical equipment at the partially completed high-rise Hilton hotel near Eighth Avenue, San Diego police Officer Jim Johnson said.”

[The Woim]

Perhaps the union is behind this explosion.

Yours truly,
The Woim

[mfccinsd]

They’re saying now that they’re quite sure it’s tied to a gas related leak in a room that had a lot of equipment tied to the construction.

(This is all that’s on our local stations at the moment)

Harbor Drive is closed at the moment b/c of emergency vehicles, etc., but the trolley is running right by it and so they are obviously quite confident this is not something that’s going to be an ongoing issue and is confined to the specific area of the building that they’ve already identified.

4 people hospitalized at Scripps
9 hospitalized at UCSD

Padres game right ‘next door’ (more or less) to the construction area will go on as planned this evening (another sign this is all confined to the construction project and not some sort of ‘event’ or ‘threat’)

(The above all per KNSD 7/39/NBC)

[Jet Jaguar]

Thanks Cindy.

You are quite an asset.

[R_Kangel]

"Perhaps the union is behind this explosion."

Did this happen during coffee break? It is San Diego, Could have been repercussions as a result of consuming an industrial strength bean burrito from the Roach Coach.

[politicalwit]

My first thought was environmentalist wackos such as ELF.

My first thought was union activity.

[ArmstedFragg]

You can see the water heaters in the room on the helicopter coverage. Probably a slow leak in one of the gas lines built up until it was ignited by the boiler next door.

[Cindy]

You’re welcome and that’s kind of you, Jet Jaguar.

[james500]

Thanks. I was looking for a photo but couldn’t find one.

[mfccinsd]

5 critical injuries
3 in UCSD burn center (sounds like 3 of those 5)
and 8 others injured (varying degree)

Still saying 13 total at hospitals.

Fire dept guy says that they are amazed that there were not more injuries and AMAZED that the injuries were not far more serious given the strength and degree of the explosion.

The response was incredible and incredibly fast per all those on scene that are talking.

There will be a presser at 4:30 local time but again saying it’s definitely NOT terrorism and is related to what’s going on at the construction site.

[mfccinsd]

There had been reports of a gas leak on the site prior to the explosion and they were trying to find the source of the leak and then the explosion happened.

There were people ACTIVELY looking for the source of the leak right before it happened. It took place in an extremely heavily fortified room with mechanical equipment which may have helped limit the extent of the injuries.

http://photos.signonsandiego.com/gallery1.5/ (photos here)

[mfccinsd]

In my last post I linked to pictures but I’m lousy at inserting them if you’re willing to try or interested! Those are the best I’ve found so far as most of the local news stations only have video on their sites at the moment.

There are a few others here http://www.nbcsandiego.com/index.html but the better ones are on my post prior to this!

Thanks!

[ArmstedFragg]

an industrial strength bean burrito from the Roach Coach.

Funny you should mention that, the Convention Center (right next door) is hosting Digestive Disease Week starting today.

[james500]

No need to inline the pictures if you guys label the URLs like you did. I appreciate the assist.

[ArmstedFragg]

Photo 22, in the lower right hand corner, there’s two water heaters side by side, the right one appears severely damaged.

[Marine_Uncle]

Could be a simple matter of not fully closing valves on gas welder tank etc..

[Cindy]

You’re welcome James.

Breaking news -— so details, photos, videos pop up later.

[mfccinsd]

I also heard them just mentioning something tied to the boiler (which you had also pointed out earlier!)

Forget on scene-investigators...you seem to have done quite an accurate job via images so far! ha ha!

[Cindy]

THANKS to a special freepmailer for this update:

Note: Photo and Video included.

http://www.kusi.com/home/19081874.html

“Explosion Rocks Downtown Hotel - Watch Live Streaming Coverage”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Police shut down Harbor Drive in the area while investigating the blast.

A city bomb squad and search-dog teams were on scene shortly after the explosion, preparing to enter and begin the process of determining the cause.

Personnel with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also went to the site to gather evidence.”

Story Updated: May 19, 2008 at 3:59 PM PDT

[R_Kangel]

"Funny you should mention that, the Convention Center (right next door) is hosting Digestive Disease Week starting today

I think we might be on to something.

.

[SoCalPol]

Heard and felt the explosion