Staff photo / Daniel Newman Youngstown police and fire departments respond to an explosion that caused a fire at the Domestic Uniform Rental building on the corner of Belmont and Rayen avenues around noon Thursday.

YOUNGSTOWN — A factory explosion on the North Side sent two to the hospital Thursday afternoon.

The Youngstown police and fire departments were called around noon to the Domestic Uniform Rental building at the corner of Belmont and Rayen avenues after an explosion started a fire inside the building.

“We got a call for a fire here at Domestic Uniforms,” Youngstown Fire Battalion Chief Jimmy Drummond said. “And we figured out one of the extractors that they (use to) extract oils and stuff out of rags when they wash them, for whatever reason built up a bunch of pressure in the exhaust system.”

Though most of the employees were on a lunch break, Drummond said out of the two individuals injured, one man was found lying on Belmont Avenue, with bystanders trying to get medical attention for him.

A witness near the incident described the man as incoherent and hard of hearing. The unidentified man collapsed in the street after stumbling out of the building, the witness said. Drummond said that he was not burned badly, but looked as though his hip was injured.

“Maintenance is trying to figure out exactly what happened, but for some reason, fumes built up while they were supposed to extract them out of there,” Drummond said about the explosion. “Something went wrong with that and, for whatever reason, the container that holds them and extracts the fluid, had its door come off.”

The door, Drummond added, departed from the piece of equipment and caused injury to the two employees “in the near area.” He described the door as “5-feet round.”

“I know one got hit in the back of the head with something,” Drummond said. “That person was pretty far away from the machine. But the other one was in the general area when it happened.”

The part of the building that was destroyed held two large extractors, according to Drummond, along with other machines in the vicinity. Drummond added that the one that exploded “blew all of the ceilings off of the front offices,” and damaged nearby furniture.

“So, it was a good explosion,” Drummond said. “It happened in the back work area but it affected the front office as well.”

Officials were unaware of the individuals’ degree of injury while cleaning up the outside area.