YOUNGSTOWN — The owner of South Meridian Drive Thru, 437 S. Meridian Road, told Youngstown firefighters his brother stopped at the food truck in the parking lot at the drive-thru Friday morning to get a drink after taking a walk, and when he “stepped inside, it exploded.”

When firefighters arrived for the 7:46 a.m. call, there was “heavy smoke showing,” and the trailer was “fully involved with fire,” the fire report states.

The report noted that “radiant heat damage” was done to the vinyl siding on the side of the drive-thru closest to the food trailer. Firefighters attacked the fire with water and “we immediately cooled the exposure. The trailer was fully extinguished.”

Firefighters also provided assessment and care to the brother who was badly injured in the explosion until ambulance personnel arrived. The victim “was inside of the trailer at the time of the incident,” the report states. The report notes that the victim’s brother told fire officials his brother left the house 20 minutes before he did to go for a walk. He said he spoke with his brother after the explosion, but his brother was “not able to give full information due to his injuries.”

The fire report states that firefighters checked the inside of the drive-thru, and the fire did not extend inside of that business.

The fire report states that the cause of ignition was “undetermined at the scene by initial responders” and the heat source, item first ignited and factors contributing to ignition were all “undetermined.”

A Youngstown police report states the victim was inside the food truck when it exploded, throwing him from the food truck. He said he thinks he was unconscious momentarily and does not know what happened because he had not worked at the food truck for about a month.

He said his brother owns the drive-thru. The victim went to a nearby factory, where he was located by Youngstown police, who saw that the man’s legs were badly burned, but his thighs and upward did not appear to be burned. The man was conscious and talking to firefighters, who rendered aid until paramedics arrived and took over his care.

The report stated that the man had burns to his legs and hands. He was provided with a burn blanket and oxygen, and he was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital. The report indicated that the man would probably be transferred to the burn unit at Akron Children’s Hospital. He was believed to have second-degree burns.

An employee of the nearby factory said she heard an explosion that rattled her office, saw the food truck on fire and saw the man running around with no pants on. She went to see if he was OK. He appeared to be disoriented. She got him into the lobby of the factory to wait for ambulance personnel. Two people helped get the rest of the man’s pants off. The pants were a windbreaker material that mostly disintegrated, the report states.