MILLERSVILLE, MD — A man died after a storage container exploded recently in Millersville, county fire officials said. Authorities identified the victim as Kevin Zichelli, 33.

The explosion happened on May 4. The victim died last Thursday, officials announced Tuesday.

This was the fifth fire-related death of the year in Anne Arundel County.

A press release said Christopher Blaine Isaksen, 62, died after a March 9 blaze in Severn. Darlene Feeheley, 68, was the victim of a March 18 fire in Glen Burnie. Joann Marie Smith, 75, died on April 13 as a result of the injuries she suffered during an April 11 fire in Severn. Danielle Neal, 63, on April 29 succumbed to injuries she sustained when her Annapolis home caught on fire three days earlier.

There were two fire fatalities from one blaze in 2021. Three separate fires claimed three lives in 2020.

Investigators said the explosion happened around 9:02 a.m. in a commercial parking lot in the 1500 block of Jabez Run.

The victim started a piece of heavy equipment inside the metal container about one minute after opening its doors, the release said.

There was a leaking propane tank inside the storage unit, however. Authorities said this caused the accidental explosion when the equipment started.

The man inside suffered life-threatening injuries. Medics took him to the burn unit at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore. He died about two weeks later, officials said.

Authorities said a second male sustained minor burns when he tried to save the first victim.

First responders found the container contents on fire and helped the victims. A team of 47 controlled the one-alarm blaze in about 20 minutes, the release said.

The Anne Arundel County Fire Department thanked the Annapolis Fire Department and Fort Meade Fire and Emergency Services for assisting its response. The Anne Arundel County Police Department and the Maryland Department of the Environment were also on the scene.

Investigators did not estimate the value of the property damaged in the flames.

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