At least one person died and two were injured when a Maryland home exploded Sunday, sparking reports of a possible gas leak, fire officials said.
Neighbors described feeling and hearing the explosion early in the morning, which damaged several surrounding homes in Bel Air, a city about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore.
Firefighters were called to the scene around 6:40 a.m. because a gas leak was reported and there was a smell of gas outside, said Oliver Alkire, deputy fire marshal with the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Alkire said as firefighters approached, they received calls that the house had exploded. First responders pronounced one victim dead at the scene.
Alkire said a home adjacent to the explosion was heavily damaged and a woman in that home was being treated at the scene for her injuries. At least one utility worker at the scene was also injured. Two utility workers were in the area working on a reported electrical problem, but authorities did not immediately say if that was related to the explosion.
Investigators are trying to determine how many houses were damaged and how large the explosion radius was. Firefighters are still searching the rubble for other possible victims of the explosion. Authorities said there was no further danger to the population.
“I’ve been on the job for almost 18 years and this is one of the biggest explosions I’ve ever seen,” Alkire said, noting that investigators will document the damage to surrounding homes.
A photo released by county authorities shows several firefighters at the rubble of the house, with another destroyed house visible in the background. Charred pieces of wood were lying on the property, insulation material and wood splinters were lying on the street. Small pieces of debris were hanging from the surrounding trees. Later that morning, rescue workers could be seen searching through the rubble with heavy equipment.
Alkire said the exploded house was for sale, but it was not clear whether it was still inhabited.
More than 60 emergency personnel from various agencies arrived on the scene. The state fire marshal, sheriff and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms assisted with the investigation, as is customary.
Lisa Czawlytko, who lives in a nearby apartment complex, said the explosion woke her and her three children and knocked a pet bird to the ground.
She said the roof structure of four apartment blocks had collapsed and aluminum cladding had fallen from the roof to the ground. She attended a news conference at a nearby library to ask officials if it was safe to be in the building.
She said she felt the force of the explosion.
“The whole building shook like a major earthquake,” she said in an interview.
It frightened her daughter, 8-year-old Myca.
“I thought a bomb had fallen,” she said.
The explosion woke Greg Clifford from a deep sleep in his townhouse about a block away. He initially thought a tree had fallen on his patio or a lightning strike had caused the loud noise.
“It just shook everything,” Clifford said. “It was incredibly loud.”
He also noticed some damage to his house.
“The window in my bedroom is ripped off the frame of the house,” Clifford said. “I mean, I can look right down onto my patio. My basement door – the glass – didn’t shatter, but it flew in and my frame is all broken.”
