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Sandra Yi ReportingA teenager was seriously injured this morning when a tire exploded in his face.
Brian Hinter: "It was just an accident, a freak accident. Something I guess can happen to anyone."
It happened around 9:00 this morning. The 17-year old victim was working at a Big O Tire store, in South Jordan. The store is now closed until Monday. The owner told KSL the teen was filling a trailer tire with air when something went horribly wrong.
Tim Belka, Works Next Door: "It rattled the building. The windows kind of breathed in here."
Brian Hinter: "Oh, it was a really loud explosion. It rattled the windows."
Brian Hinter ran next door to help. He's a trained EMT. He says the victim had serious face and head injuries.
Brian Hinter: "It was something you're never prepared for, but you just have to work through it and do the best you can and help him out."
Friends identified the victim as 17-year old Nick Furner. They say he's been working at the store at least a year.
The owner tells Eyewitness News Furner was changing a trailer tire when, for some unknown reason, it exploded. Hinter says the teen was conscious, but incoherent.
Brian HInter: "I was just reassuring him, letting him know that we were helping him out there and more help was on the way."
Furner was life-flighted to the hospital. Those who know him are devastated by what happened. They describe him as a good kid and a hard worker. He'll be a senior at Bingham High School this fall.
Brian Hinter: "He's always just doing the job and happy and smiling. We all just wish him the best."
Tim Belka: "We work with these guys a lot, the guys next door here and we're always there for them and they help us out, and we help them out. So even just knowing that any one of their guys going down, it shook us up pretty good. We all just took a minute to stop and think about it."
Brian Hinter: "It's just unfortunate and our hearts go out to the family."
Furner is in serious condition and was undergoing surgery this afternoon. People tell us they've heard of tires exploding like this before, but police are still trying to figure out what caused it to happen. Right now it appears to be just a horrible, freak accident.
