Two food truck employees suffered burns after a gas leak caused an explosion inside their vehicle at the Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival in Pittsboro on Thursday afternoon.

A release from the Chatham County government confirmed Fire Marshal Billy Judson is investigating the incident, which happened around 12:30 p.m. and was caused by a propane gas leak in the truck. An initial review determined the fire was isolated to the food truck and Shakori Hills staff acted quickly to grab fire extinguishers to help with the flames before emergency personnel arrived on the scene. Photos shared by the county showed a scorched interior of the vehicle covered in fire extinguisher residue. WRAL’s helicopter camera gathered footage of first responders gathered around a food truck for Stuffyman’s Vegan Stuff shortly after the explosion.

Photos via the Chatham County government.

According to the release, the two injured workers were transported to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill for further treatment.

Judson extended his thanks to the emergency personnel who did respond to the festival grounds at 1439 Henderson Tanyard Road in Pittsboro, which included: the North Chatham Fire Department, Silk Hope Fire Department, Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, Pittsboro Fire Department, and FirstHealth EMS.

According to organizers of the Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival, the gas explosion happened during event setup and before the music and arts programming had officially started. Thursday is the opening day of the popular four-day event, with the gates for campers having opened at 10 a.m. and the opening ceremony with Diali Cissokho planned for 4:30 p.m. Both the festival organizers and the county government said performances and activities are continuing as planned for the rest of the weekend.

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