ORLANDO, Fla. — A fourth person has died following Thursday night’s warehouse fire in Orange County.
A spokesperson for the Orange County’s Sheriff’s Office identified the victim as Elizabeth Tiralongo, 22, David Gonzalez, 22, Lindsey Phillips, 22, and Landon Bourland, 24, also died from the fire.
One other person was injured in the fire and sent to the hospital. Authorities did not have an update on that person’s condition.
The fire happened at the Central Florida Parkway storage facility for Magic in the Sky, a Texas-based entertainment services company. Fireworks were inside the warehouse and were seen going off amid the flames.
Eight employees were on the site when the fire broke out around 7 p.m. Thursday, according to a statement from Magic in the Sky. Three were outside in the parking lot and five were inside the warehouse, the statement added.
“Safety is, and always has been, our company’s number one priority,” reads part of the statement. “Our highly qualified personnel are trained on a regular basis in the procedures used to properly handle and prep pyrotechnic products for the entertainment productions that we produce.”
Magic in the Sky will conduct a “thorough and complete review of this incident” and make the findings public, according to the statement.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the cause of the fire.
County Commissioner Mayra Uribe (District 3) has questions she wants answers to regarding any storage explosive regulations the county may have. She fears what may have happened had the fire happened in a warehouse closer to residential areas.
“We have areas in Orange County, when you think of industrial warehouse usages, that are next to homes,” she explained. “That’s what really accelerates my interest and concern, because we’re an old county. We’ve been around for decades and decades. So we’ve only improved the rules going forward so now you can’t do that, but 30 years ago you could.”
Uribe says she has more questions than answers right now. She is working to identify all industrial areas near residential areas and suggested the county could look into creating a registry for explosives.
Uribe said she doesn’t want to govern businesses but pointed to the importance of public safety.
“We’re going to keep pushing forward to get those answers and get answers for those families and other residents who live in other places near warehouses, so they can have some comfort that we’re being proactive to make sure this never happens again,” she said.