Maryland house explosion kills 1 person, 2 injured

At least one person died and two were injured after a Maryland house exploded Sunday amid reports of a possible gas leak, fire officials said.

Neighbours described feeling and hearing the early morning blast that damaged a number of surrounding houses in Bel Air, a town about about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Baltimore.

Firefighters were called to the scene around 6:40 am for a report of a gas leak and an outdoor odour of gas, said Oliver Alkire, a master deputy with the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Alkire said that as firefighters were approaching, they began receiving calls that the house had exploded. First responders pronounced a victim dead at the scene.

Alkire said that a home next door to the explosion was heavily damaged, and a woman in that house was treated for her injuries on the scene. At least one utility worker on the scene was also injured. Two utility workers were in the area to work on a reported electrical issue, but authorities didn’t immediately say if that was related to the explosion.

Investigators are working to determine how many houses were damaged and how far the blast radius was. Firefighters were continuing to search the debris for other possible victims of the blast. Authorities said there’s no ongoing threat to the public.

“I’ve been on the job for nearly 18 years, and this is one of the largest explosions I’ve seen,” Alkire said, noting that investigators will document damage to nearby homes.

A photo posted by county officials showed a number of firefighters around the rubble of the home with another damaged home in the background. Charred pieces of wood were heaped on the property, and insulation and splintered wood spilled out into the street. Small pieces of debris hung from nearby trees. Later in the morning, emergency workers were seen using heavy equipment to search through the rubble.

Alkire said the house that blew up was for sale, but it wasn’t clear if it was still occupied.

More than 60 first responders came to the scene from multiple agencies. The state fire marshal, sheriff and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were assisting with the probe, as is standard procedure.

Lisa Czawlytko, who lives in a nearby condominium, said the explosion woke her and her three children and knocked a pet bird to the ground.

She said the roof structure on four condominium buildings buckled and sent aluminum siding from the roof down 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 scared her daughter, 8-year-old Myca.

“I thought a bomb dropped,” she said.

The blast woke up Greg Clifford from a heavy sleep inside his townhouse about a block away. He first thought that a tree had fallen on his deck, or that a lightning strike caused the loud noise.

“It just shook the whole thing,” Clifford said. “It was crazy loud.”

He also noted some damage to his home.

“The window in my bedroom is pulled away from the framing of the house,” Clifford said. “I mean, I can look straight down to my deck. My basement door — the glass — it didn’t shatter, but it blew in, and my frame’s all cracked out.”