Explosion sparks fire at Coachella after Childish Gambino closes Day 1 set
A huge fire broke out at the Coachella music festival in California as the acts of the first night came to an end. The cause of the fire is believed to be an explosion, and the crowd faced the brunt of it as the fire tore through a mobile shower unit close to the center of the campsite in Indio.
Soon social media went buzzing with the news, as one person tweeted: "What is going on!! There is a huge fire at the Coachella mobile showers!!!" Another wrote: "Coachella just turned into a fire fest. The showers just exploded!!" A user commented on that saying: "It's literally hella lit right now. No seriously like it's lit - the showers caught fire." A third one posted: "Showers at Coachella campground caught on fire… everybody out of the showers now! – someone in their towel running out."
Social media footage showed flames leaping out of what seemed like a rectangular building, which would be the said showers where the fire began. Around 2 am, witnesses reported an explosion, which is also said to be around the same time that the fire was spotted. Firefighters were also seen spraying jets of water at the shacks lit on fire as horrified onlookers witnessed the scene all over. According to the Riverside County Fire Department, four engines were sent to the scene, and no one was reported injured.
The fire department's official Twitter account posted at 2.28 am: "Fire Contained. Mobile Shower Unit in Lot 8 Storage Area. Total of 2 trailers involved. 1 damaged, 1 destroyed. No reported injuries to fire personnel or civilians. Fire crews will remain on scene for 1 hour for overhaul."
Being one of the most highly anticipated events of the year, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival draws over 250,000 enthusiasts, including celebrities, flocking at Indio to attend it every year. But this type of tragic fire is not a first at the event.
In fact, just last year, the festival went through a six-mile-wide devastating fire that managed to burn through 10 acres of vegetation. Officials had reported at the time that the fire had the ability to spread across 50 acres, but fortunately, at no point were any of the attendees in danger.
When this year's shower fire broke out, rapper Childish Gambino had just brought the acts of day one to a close. In the coming two days of the three-day-long festival, Tame Impala will headline on Saturday, while Ariana Grande will be headlining on Sunday. Day one gifted the crowd with acts from artistes like The 1975, Janelle Monae, and DJ Snake, and the weekend will see other similarly awesome artistes like Pusha T, and actor Idris Elba, who will be presenting a DJ set.