Someone called 911 to report the smell of gas at a Silver Spring apartment complex weeks before an explosion rocked the same complex on Wednesday night, killing at least two people and injuring dozens more, Montgomery County officials confirmed on Thursday.
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Fire and rescue crews are seen at the site of an overnight explosion and fire that destroyed an apartment building in the Flower Branch Apartments complex on August 11, 2016 in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Emergency Medical crews were evaluating multiple people at the scene, including some who reported burn injuries, Piringer said.
More than 30 people were hurt in the explosion and fire.
Hamill encouraged members of the public with information about the whereabouts of building residents or the incident itself to contact police by using the county’s 311 system or by calling 240-777-0311.
Firefighters called to the four-story apartment complex found people on upper floors who needed help, Montgomery County Fire Chief Scott Goldstein said at a briefing.
The search of the wreckage was suspended Thursday as night fell because darkness and the shifting walls of the building created unsafe conditions for firefighters and other personnel, officials said.
Initially, fire officials said they were looking for five to seven people who were unaccounted for.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation.
“The First Lady and I send our deepest prayers and condolences to all those affected by this tragedy, and to the families of those who have lost loved ones”, Hogan said in a statement. “One of them has a hip that’s injured because the furniture hit him in the explosion”. Police later said they don’t have a firm number. “Everybody was getting out of the building as rapidly as possible”. The building was still at risk of collapsing, and had to be shored up before recovery efforts and the investigation could continue, County Fire and Rescue Service Division Chief David Steckel said.
“People were dropping children and jumping out of other windows”, Goldstein said.
“The ATF will make available all of our specialized resources as we work hand-in-hand with our local counterparts in Montgomery County to help determine the origin and cause of this morning’s tragic event”, said ATF Baltimore Special Agent in Charge Daniel L. Board. Officials made comments in English and Spanish during a Thursday news conference.
Clara Mazunder said she woke up to a loud “boom”, looked out her bedroom window and saw flames.
Paul Carden, regional disaster director for the American Red Cross, estimated that 100 people were displaced and 60 or 70 were staying at a Red Cross shelter established at a nearby community center.
“Luckily one of them was awake at 1 a.m.so he heard the explosion and started running out”, he said.
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Clothing was seen strewn in sidewalk treetops in video footage provided by fire officials.
