NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & SportsMeth Lab Explosion Injures Hickman Co. Man

Meth Lab Explosion Injures Hickman Co. Man

CENTERVILLE, Tenn. - A man is in critical condition after an explosion at his home in Hickman County.

Johnny Harrington is recovering at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where he was listed in critical, but stable condition Wednesday afternoon.

Police said he was making meth in his home in the Wrigley community when something went wrong. It happened about 50 miles southwest of downtown Nashville in Hickman County. Methamphetamine is a highly addictive and illegal central nervous system stimulant.

Harrington is expected to recover, but police said when he walks out of the hospital it will be in handcuffs.

"It blew up the whole corner and this wall and roof right here up," said neighbor Patrick Scott, pointing to the damage to the home.

Scott and Tom Thompson witnessed the explosion. They said it raised the roof.

"We were looking up and we looked over and we saw the house explode," Scott said.

"Yah, it was loud. You could hear it. The people up on the hill said even they heard it and they're a half mile away," Thompson said.

Another neighbor Donna Thornton watched in horror as Harrington ran out of his house.

"I just saw him come out on fire and he was like this and we just started screaming for someone to help put him out," she said.

 "Well, he was just screaming and hollering help me!  Help me! Help me!" Scott said.

"He was just screaming.  He was in so much pain," she said,

Paramedics worked on Harrington for several minutes before taking him to the hospital.

"You could tell he couldn't see because I think the skin over your eyes, when you shut your eyes all of that was burned off so you could see like there was wax all over him," said Bobby Thornton

Firefighters with the rescue squad ordered people to get away from the home. Investigators suspected a meth lab.

Hickman County Sheriff's deputies believe Harrington was cooking meth when something went wrong.

Neighbors said they never thought Harrington would be involved in manufacturing illegal drugs.

"No sir.  No sir.  They asked me if I smelled anything.  I don't know what it smells like.  They said you'd know it if you smelled it," Bobby Thornton said.

Neighbors inspected the outside of the home.

They were told not to go in.

"Just the bottom of the walls were just like somebody got an inside with a sledge hammer and knocked them completely out.  Blew the back door off and windows out," he said.

Police told people to stay away from the home because many of the chemicals used to make meth are toxic. Sometimes it takes special equipment to clean up what is left over.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said meth lab seizures are down in Tennessee about 50 percent since 2005. That's when state lawmakers passed the legislation limiting the number of chemicals you could buy to make meth.