There were no injuries Tuesday morning during an explosion at a juice processing plant in Lakeland, according to authorities.
According to Bay News 9 partner newspaper the Ledger, the explosion was caused by a buildup of natural gas.
Lakeland police said the explosion happened at the plant, located at 2090 Bartow Road, just after 7:30 a.m. Officials said 90 workers were in the plant at the time of the blast.
The 200,000 square-foot facility is the Whitlock Packaging Corporation, formerly known as the Juice Bowl Plant. The company bottles juices and teas for major brand names.
People driving by could hear something wasn't right.
"All of a sudden we heard this hissing sound. It was like sssssss,” said Amy Shank, witness.
"There were these loud banging sounds like a furnace,” said Christine Hobbs, witness.
Smoke was spotted rising from the facility a short time before firefighters and police officers arrived at the scene.
The full extent of the damage is unknown but a boiler was blown through a wall, leaving a gaping hole in the facility. The 60,000-lb. boiler was holding 2,000 gallons of water when the explosion happened.