It wasn’t clear whether the three were inside the building when the blast happened, he said.
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Firefighters responded to the alarm just before 8pm along with gas employees, half an hour before the blast. Some firefighters at the scene were blown back 20 feet by the force, and others pulled smoldering debris from the building to help contain the fire, Fire Capt. John Hawkins said at a news conference.
“They’re not here”, Duke said, adding he was nearly certain the missing guests were not caught in the explosion. “You have to make them realize how unsafe this situation is, so I was really having to raise my voice to make people move and get out of the area”, she said.
“We have no doubt that God brought him through last night”, she said. He estimated that responders would sift through the large pile of rubble by early Wednesday afternoon.
According to his family and his colleagues, Larry Jennings has worked for Cascade Natural Gas for more than 30 years. “We see that a lot”, Duke said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Cascade Gas employee critically injured tonight”, Bremerton Police Department said in a statement.
In the hours after the blast, social media users posted photos of the obliterated three-story motel.
“Anyone else hear the big booming explosion in Bremerton?” tweeted Andrew Campbell. One suffered bruised ribs and another a concussion.
Laura Lueder, a spokeswoman for the gas company, said that it was working with local authorities on the investigation.
Thirteen hotel units and a laundry room were leveled by the explosion, which occurred at 8:24 p.m. Tuesday, about a half-hour after a gas leak had been reported there.
“We don’t know what caused the explosion at this point”, she said. “He’s definitely a servant out there for the public, and that’s what he was doing last night – making it safe”.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced on twitter that it was sending investigators to the scene of the explosion.
The natural gas company, which is a division of MDU Resources based in North Dakota, serves approximately 273,000 customers in Oregon and Washington.
The hotel in the Seattle suburb was evacuated before Tuesday night’s explosion, Police Chief Steve Strachan said. “We’re very thankful there weren’t more injuries”, he said.
Bremerton is located west of Seattle, across Puget Sound.
The Tuesday night blast critically injured a gas company worker minutes after the acting hotel manager had evacuated the building due to a gas leak.
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Hinds said a guest reported seeing someone jump out a window and land on or near the gas line just before the leak.
