4 injured in N.C. coffee truck explosion

Four Given Coffee employees were hospitalized after their truck exploded outside Winston-Salem’s Joel Coliseum

August 21, 2025 08:48 AM

By John Hinton
News & Record

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Four people were injured Wednesday at Joel Coliseum when a coffee food truck exploded shortly before 7:30 a.m., authorities said.

The truck from Given Coffee was at Joel as part of move-in day for Wake Forest University.

All four were employees of the food truck, said Tabetha Childress, a spokeswoman for the Winston-Salem Fire Department.

The employees were taken to a local hospital for treatment, Childress said.

Details about the employees’ conditions were not immediately available.

A group of 31 city firefighters responded to put out the fire from the explosion, Childress said.

Wake Forest sent an alert shortly after 8 a.m. on its Wake Safe App.

The university said no Wake Forest employees or students were injured.

Wake Forest’s move-in-day activities continued inside the coliseum, but police re-routed traffic around the coliseum.

All other entrances were closed immediately after the incident, the university said.

The damaged coffee food truck was towed away from the scene later Wednesday.

The school later issued a statement about Wednesday’s incident in a message to its students, faculty members, staff and alumni.

“The Wake Forest community sympathizes with all those impacted by this accident,” the university said. “We are grateful to those who assisted bystanders.”

The university offered support to anyone affected by Wednesday’s events.

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