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Flames engulf popular Detroit chef's food truck, leaves him with 2nd-degree burns to body

Posted at 9:32 PM, Oct 03, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-03 23:22:48-04

DETROIT (WXYZ) — It was a freak accident that landed beloved food truck chef Rashad Torrence in the hospital over the weekend. On Thursday he was cleared to return home.

A fire inside the Detroit's Original Seafood Truck engulfed his body as he and his two sons set up for the Smoke on the River event at Detroit's West RIverfront Park.

"I went to go light the fryers," Torrence said. "And once I lit the fryer there was just a kaboom and explosion!"

He suffered second-degree burns to mostly his face, hands, and he was burned on his leg. Torrence said the explosion threw his body out of the truck, yet he managed to put out the flames.

Torrence and his truck have been a fixturfor foodies around town.

"I love feeding the souls," he told 7 Action News Reporter Rudy Harper.

About 24 hours before the truck was engulfed in flames, Torrence was on 7 Action News with Keenan Smith for a cooking segment promoting the event.

Torrence said the cause of the explosion was a gas leak.

The small business man's son started a GoFundMe page. You can help here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/detroits-original-seafood-truck-build