BEL AIR, Md. – Two people were killed and 12 families displaced after a Maryland house exploded Sunday amid reports of a possible gas leak, fire officials said.
Neighbors described feeling and hearing the early morning blast that damaged a number of surrounding houses in Bel Air, a town about about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Baltimore.
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Firefighters were called to the area around 6:40 a.m. for a report of a gas leak and an outdoor odor 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 one person dead at the scene, and a second body was later found in the rubble.
Alkire said that a home next door to the explosion was heavily damaged, and a woman in that house was treated for injuries on the scene. 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.
The first victim found was later identified as a contractor for the utility BGE, according to a statement released by Harford County Fire and EMS.
The State Fire Marshal's Office said late Sunday that the second body was found in the rubble of the home at the center of the blast. The person is believed to be the home's 73-year-old owner, but positive identification was pending, according to the fire officials' statement.
Investigators were also working to establish how many houses were damaged and how far the blast radius was. Harford County fire officials said that at least 12 families have been displaced due to damage to neighboring houses. Authorities said there was 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.
A photo posted by county officials showed several 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.
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.
Her 8-year-old daughter described it as scary, when her mother asked her how she felt when it happened .
“I thought a bomb dropped,” Myca 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.”