Close Call for Area Sheriffs At Nashville Explosion

By: Sylvia Villarreal

Updated: Wed 6:56 PM, Jun 20, 2012

An explosion forced the the evacuation of more than 5,000 guests Tuesday night from Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center and two of them are sheriffs from the Brazos Valley.

Brazos County Sheriff Chris Kirk and Sheriff J.W. Jankowski from Washington County are attending the National Sheriff's Association's annual convention being held at the resort and both were forced to move to a different hotel.

Emergency responders say around 8:15 p.m. the explosion was ignited by a gas leak in a mechanical room. Fortunately nobody was injured but, there was significant damage the parts of the convention center.

Listen to Sheriff Kirk's entire interview with News 3 by clicking on the link above.
News 3 spoke with Sheriff Kirk who says he was out to dinner when the explosion happened, but he also said that just moments before the blast he was in the area where the explosion occurred.

Kirk will return to Bryan later this week while Jankowski arrives back in Texas on Wednesday.

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