Tainan fire injures 15 and damages 68 homes in Taiwan

A fire and subsequent explosion in a residential area in Tainan early yesterday injured 15 people and damaged 68 homes, the Tainan City Fire Bureau said, Report informs via Taipei Times.

The bureau said it received a report at 1:12 am yesterday that a pile of waste in a vacant lot in Annan District's Haidian Road had caught fire and exploded, adding that it dispatched 144 firefighters and 53 firetrucks to battle the blaze and evacuate nearby residents.

It took more than four hours to extinguish the fire, it said.

The incident damaged 11 privately owned vehicles, as well as eight fire engines, one ambulance and two disaster assessment vehicles, the bureau said.

The three homes closest to the blast site sustained the most severe damage, it added.

Twelve people and three firefighters were injured, sustaining cuts to the head or other minor injuries, the bureau said, adding that no one was seriously hurt.

The Tainan City Government's air quality and pollutant sampling data showed no abnormalities after the incident.