At least one person was killed and two were injured after a house in Maryland exploded Sunday morning, according to the Harford County Fire and EMS Association.
The fire department was initially dispatched to the home in Harford County for a gas leak outside at around 6:42 a.m. As they approached the scene, they were told there had been a house explosion, Master Deputy State Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire said in a news briefing Sunday morning.
The firefighters found a debris field when they arrived at the scene and called for additional help, said Harford County Fire spokesperson Jeffrey Sexton, who also spoke at the briefing.
Video and pictures from the scene show that the house was completely destroyed and left piles of debris in the surrounding area. A neighboring house also appeared to be badly damaged.
“I’ve been on the job for nearly 18 years, this is one of the largest explosions I’ve seen,” Alkire said.
One of the two injured declined to be transported the hospital, Sexton said. The other injured person was a utility worker from Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) who was already on scene with another worker to investigate an electrical issue, according to Alkire. It’s not clear at this time if the electrical issue was related to the explosion.
Officials did not identify the deceased victim pending notification of next of kin, but the Harford Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the individual was contracted for work by the BGE.
There were around 60 personnel from multiple fire and emergency service agencies on scene to assist with the explosion, Sexton said. The Harford County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also helping with the investigation.
“Currently, it is still a very active search and rescue scene,” Alkire said. “I can confirm that the house was listed for sale. However, we do not know at this point if there still is anyone inside.”
The cause of the explosion is not known at this time.
“Right now, we just don’t know,” Alkire said when asked if the explosion was being treated as a crime scene. “What I can confirm is that there was a odor of gas within the area. We can confirm that also BGE was aware of that odor within the area, and there were other — there were BGE-contracted workers on scene whenever the explosion occurred.”
Officials are still assessing the damage in the area, but multiple structures are expected to have been affected, including a house right next door where a woman inside was injured, Alkire said.
While there is no current threat to the public from the explosion, Alkire asked the public to stay away from “the vast debris area that’s around the scene” and not fly any personal drones in its airspace.
Lisa Czawlytko and her daughter were near the explosion when it happened.
“We’re in a top floor of a condo building with no elevator, so the whole building was shaking,” Czawlytko told NBC affiliate WBAL- TV. “We are about 0.3 miles from where the blast happened, and I thought it was a major earthquake.”
“I thought it was a bomb,” her daughter said.
Megan Weeks wasn’t home when the explosion happened but received a call from her wife after their babysitter told her all the windows at their house blew in.
“It was pretty scary,” Weeks said. “All I could think about was just leaving work and coming home as soon as possible.”
Thankfully, their daughter and babysitter weren’t hurt. Weeks’ home was left with damage to the roof, windows and even to some of the walls and the ceiling inside.
Weeks was shocked by the magnitude of the destruction when she walked to the scene of the explosion.
“I’m actually nervous about — I mean, that could very well happen to one of our homes as well,” she said.