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BRANDON INVESTIGATORS ARE STILL : WORKING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT CAUSED AN EXPLOSION AT A KFC IN EDEN. THE BUILDING WAS LEVELED. SURVEILLANCE VIDEO FROM ACROSS THE STREET SHOWS THE MOMENT THE RESTAURANT EXPLODED AROUND 12-30 A.M. ON THURSDAY. DEBRIS RAINED DOWN IN THE PARKING LOT AND WAS FOUND UP TO HALF A MILE AWAY. SKY 12 FLEW OVER SOUTH VAN BUREN ROAD YESTERDAY. SHOWING JUST HOW FAR PIECES OF THE BUILDING FELL. CREWS WERE OUT FOR HOURS SIFTING THROUGH THE RUBBLE. THE BLAST COULD BE HEARD F MILES. OUR STEVE KING IS LIVE TONIGHT IN EDEN AFTER SPEAKING TO A MAN ABOUT EIGHT MILES OUT WHO SAID HE HEARD WHAT HAPPENED. STEVE? STEVE THAT’S RIGHT, WHICH SHOWS : HOW POWERFUL THIS BLAST WAS. SO YOU CN IMAGINE WHAT IT WAS LIKE NEXT DOOR FOR THE PEOPLE AT THE AIA SWEEPSTAKES AT THAT MOMENT, TAKE A LOOK. HERE YOU CAN SEE EMPLOYEES TREMBLING IN FEAR, NOT SURE WH WAS GOING ON WHEN THE EXPLOSION HAPPENED EARLY THURSDAY MORNING, JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT. OTHER PATRONS ARE SEEN HERE, ALSO IN SHOCK, FOLLOWING THAT BLAST. RIGHT NOW SWEEPSTAKES OWNERS SAY THEY’VE REPAIRED THE DAMAGE TO THEIR BUILDING, AND ARE OPERATING ON NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS. AT THE SAME TIME, TOMMY WEBBER WAS OUTSIDE IN RIDGEWAY, VIRGINIA. HE SAYS HE HEARD THE BLAST, AND WASN’T TOO SURE WHAT TO MAKE OF IT. WHAT’S REALLY NOTEWORTHY HERE IS THE DISTANCE AS WEBBER WAS MORE THAN 8 AND A HALF MILES FROM THE EXPLOSION. >> I HEARD WHAT I CALLED A MUFFLED, BUT SIGNIFICANT BOOM, IT WAS A SIGNIFICANT EXPLOSION TO SUGGEST IT WAS A BOMB, TYPE FEELING, I KNEW IT WOULD HAVE HAD TO HAVE BEEN FAR AWAY. STEVE RIGHT NOW INVESTIGATORS : HAVE NOT DETERMINED THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE, AND PIEDMONT NATURAL GAS LEADERS SAY THEY HAVEN’T FOUND ANYTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY IN THEIR GAS LINES, AND BOTH HERE AT THE EXPLODED KFC AND IN SURROUNDING BUSINESSES. HOWEVER, POLICE CHIEF GREG LIGHT SAYS QUOTE GAS MAY HAVE BEEN A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR. AS FOR THE 20 KFC EMPLOYEES, COMPANY REPRESENTATIVE SAY THOSE WORKERS WILL GET TO WORK AT OTHER KFC LOCATIONS IN THE AREA, AND WILL GET HELP WITH TRANSPORTATION. REPORTING LIVE IN EDEN STEVE KING WXII 12

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Security cameras caught the reactions of the patrons inside a sweepstakes business when a Kentucky Fried Chicken exploded into a pile of rubble in Eden early Thursday morning.AIA Sweepstakes, located next door to the fast-food restaurant, sustained window and exterior wall damage during the blast, which happened at about 12:30 a.m.. About 10 patrons and at least two employees were inside of the business at the time of the incident.Footage from inside the business captured people reacting to the blast.Investigators said they have not yet determined the cause of the blast. State and federal investigators are currently examining evidence gathered at the scene. Meanwhile, the Eden Police Department is conducting interviews with witnesses.“The biggest thing we’re finding now is, in the back of the restaurant, just the gas lines is what we looked at yesterday and what we’re looking at today. Gas may have been a contributing factor and I know the word is out there that it probably was but, still, until we find an exact cause, we don’t want to say that,” said Eden Police Chief Greg Light.Crews have put up a metal fence around the site in order to keep the area secure as the investigation continues.While people who were at the restaurant before the explosion happened reported that they smelled gas, representatives from Piedmont Natural Gas issued the following statement after the incident Thursday:“Piedmont Natural Gas technicians thoroughly checked the lines to the KFC and in the surrounding area today and found nothing unusual. The natural gas system is operating properly. Piedmont first received notice of the incident directly from the fire department at 12:39 a.m. today. The safety of our customers and communities is our highest priority, and we will continue to work closely with emergency responders to determine what happened.” Tee to Green Golf Shop is also located next door to the restaurant. The shop’s owner, Jerry Woodall, said some of the windows were sucked out of the building when the blast happened.The business sustained roof, ceiling, wall and light damage as a result of the incident.The business said it will make the repairs in the coming days but the shop has resumed normal business hours and operations. “I think it was just the magnitude of it, the power of that blast, the way the oxygen was taken toward the blast. The power that that made was like a bomb going off, so I’m just very thankful that no one was hurt, really,” Woodall said.Eden Drug sustained damage to one of its walls as well as some of the insulation in the building. A pharmacist at the business, Chad York, said he saw the damage in person early Thursday morning, when he checked on the store after hearing that the security alarm at the pharmacy had gone off.“You don’t understand until you’ve seen something like that, just the pure devastation that hit one building like that and just completely demolish it," York said. "It was like an, ‘Oh my God,’ moment. It really was. It was intense."Tommy Webber was 8.5 miles away from the explosion, in Ridgeway, Virginia. Webber said he was outside when the blast happened, and he heard the explosion.“I heard what I called a muffled but significant boom,” he said. “It was a significant explosion to suggest it was a bomb-type feeling. I knew it would have had to have been far away,” Webber said.KFC representatives provided the following statement to WXII 12 News on Friday:“The franchisee organization for this restaurant places the safety and care of its employees as its top priority. They are actively placing the impacted team members at their choice of six area KFC restaurants to minimize disruption to their work schedules and pay while the Eden location undergoes rebuilding. In addition, the KFC Foundation’s Family Fund will be providing additional assistance to eligible employees to help with transportation and other expenses."The heart of what the KFC Foundation does is to care for KFC restaurant employees. The KFC Foundation, an independent 501c3 non-profit organization, is committed to providing charitable support to participating KFC U.S. restaurant employees through education, hardship assistance and personal finance programs. Since 2017, the Foundation has awarded $17 million to more than 4,500 KFC restaurant employees. Its KFC Family Fund is dedicated to assisting employees who have been directly impacted by a severe hardship, crisis or catastrophic incident, with a goal of providing temporary financial relief to eliminate some of the added stress caused by incidents like these.”