Authorities evacuated a building at the St. Petersburg Alta Mar at Broadwater Apartments on Wednesday, January 13 following an explosion inside one of the units.
A home drug lab was the cause of the explosion, according to St. Petersburg police.
Police evacuated the building, located at 3906 34th Ter. S., at 3 p.m. on Wednesday. St. Petersburg does not have an explosion specialist team, so a Tampa bomb squad investigated the 11 other units in the building to determine if there was any further threat.
Residents are not immediately able to return to their homes due to the risk of “volatile chemicals.”
“The fire department released the building back to the management company this morning,” St. Petersburg police spokeswoman Sandra Bentil told the Gabber on Wednesday. “That is the only update at the moment.”
It is still unknown if anyone was harmed in the afternoon detonation. The investigation is ongoing.
Photo 1: 11 units in the Alta Mar apartments in St. Petersburg were evacuated due to a drug lab explosion on Wednesday, January 13. Tenants are currently displaced, and it is unknown if there were any injuries following the event. Photo by Alta Mar at Broadwater Apartments.
