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Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely was among the hundreds of sheriffs attending an annual conference and exhibition at a Nashville hotel and convention center where an explosion rocked part of the building Tuesday night.
But the local sheriff wasn’t at the hotel when the blast occurred.
Blakely had been at the conference but had gone home to Limestone County before the blast occurred, he said Wednesday.
“We were already through for the day and I hade run home,” he said. “It’s a good thing I had left (Tuesday) night or I would have wound up without a room.”
Blakely said the conference and exhibition resumed today.
He and hundreds of other sheriffs from around the country were attending the 2012 National Conference & Exhibition of the National Sheriffs’ Association at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, where the explosion occurred around 8:30 p.m.
No one was seriously injured in the explosion, which occurred in a mechanical room near the Delta section of the hotel.
Capt. Ken Walburn of the Nashville Fire Department said gas ignited in the mechanical room on the first floor, damaging an escalator, walls and ceiling, the Associated Press reported. The impact radiated to the third floor, where it damaged ceiling tiles, according to the AP.
Walburn said the state bomb and arson squad, along with the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, investigated the cause of the fire but suspicious activity was ruled out.
Many guests were moved to the Grand Ole Opry House, located next door to the hotel, as well as to other hotels in the city. They were allowed to return to their rooms around 3 a.m. Wednesday, the AP reported.
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