Two people are presumed dead and two are badly burned after a massive explosion at a gas station in Idaho.
The dreary Atkinson Distributing gas station in Cardiff, Idaho, became the site of a fiery catastrophe when a routine procedure went drastically awry on Wednesday.
A tanker was dropping off fuel at the station just after 3 p.m. when the explosion occurred, leaving the earth scorched and a debris field that spanned multiple blocks before burning long into the night, according to local officials.
The scene of an explosion at a gas station in Cardiff, Idaho, on Sept. 11, 2024. Clearwater County SheriffA hellfire blaze emitting billowing black smoke into the sky was seen in a Facebook video posted by LC Valley News, disrupting the otherwise calm rural scene.
As the videographer drove by, the burnt-out tanker can be seen near the pumps it was refueling, still ablaze. One of the pump stations exploded just as the driver passed.
Two individuals with severe burns were found by first responders.
Those two were medevaced to Seattle. — the nearest city — in a Life Flight helicopter, which is an air ambulance, according to a sheriff’s office news release.
Seattle is well over an hour by helicopter from the small unincorporated logging town in Clearwater County.
Atkinson Distributing manager Jeff Adams said Thursday that the two flown to Seattle were employees of Atkinson and both were in critical condition.
Yet, they may have been the lucky ones.
At least two people are believed to have been inside the station at the time of the explosion, according to Idaho officials and Atkinson Distributing.
“Evidentially there were a couple of customers in the store that did not get out,” Adams said Thursday.
“We’d like to extend our prayers to everybody, and thank the first responders and everybody who turned out to try to help,” he added, “We very much appreciate it.”
The two people trapped in the building during the gas-fueled inferno are presumed dead, though local authorities have not given official word.
Information moves slowly out of Cardiff, according to Idaho State Fire Marshal Knute Sanhal, as the town of Cardiff does not have cellphone service.
“Unfortunately the flow of information is kind of difficult without any cell service,” Sandahl said Thursday, “They’re still sifting through the debris.”
He added that two other people were taken to area hospitals, but the nature of their injuries is unknown.
The Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office and the Idaho State Fire Marshal are investigating the cause of the explosion and fire.






