The incident was reported shortly after 5 a.m. in the 900 block of South Grande Vista Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
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"It felt like a humungous, humungous earthquake," according to Liz Gutierrez, who said the truck was owned by her neighbor. "The whole walls were shaking, and we woke up because our cousin lives upstairs, above us, and we thought that something had fell."
Gutierrez said residents initially thought something had happened on the nearby 5 Freeway.
"So when we came out, it was the truck that was already exploded, everywhere. The windshield was -- it was just bad."
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Firefighters arrived at the scene and quickly extinguished a fire, in the truck's cargo area, that was caused by the blast, the LAFD said.
"While the specific cause of the fire has yet to be determined, investigators are pursuing the possibility that one of several propane tanks stored within the vehicle may have been leaking," the Fire Department said in a statement.