TAVARES, Fla. – The Blue Rhino explosion is fueling concerns from people who live near the Tavares plant, sparking a petition to prevent the plant from reopening.
[RECOMMENDED: Cause of explosions still unknown | Worker voices concerns]
A man who lives just a few hundred yards from the plant is making it his mission to shut the place down for good. He didn't want Local 6 to use his name.
"We got no warning, we were just left here to cook. We're scared. We don't want to be here," he said. "That plant can't open back up, there are too many families here."
He said it was the worst thing he and his family have been through.
"It was deafening. We were at the top of our lungs, the bottles were one after the other," he said. "The heat you could feel from here."
That's why he along with his neighbors are coming together to start a petition, hoping it will keep Blue Rhino from reopening. So far, they say more than 100 people who live in the area are on board.
"They just want total shutdown of the plant. It shouldn't be in a populated area," he said. "It was supposed to be a state of the art plant, safe, and it's not. I will sign whatever they want and we'll take it as far as it has to go."
Delana Reagor said her family agrees. They were evacuated from Lakeside at Tavares right after the plant burst into flames.
"If there is a petition, I'll definitely sign it because we just moved here last month," said Reagor.
Her biggest concern is that Tavares Middle School is one mile from the plant.
"I definitely think it should be moved with the school so close, because evacuating that many children definitely couldn't happen fast enough," said Reagor.