At least 10 people were injured, some seriously, in an explosion and fire that destroyed much of an apartment building in Silver Spring, Maryland Thursday morning, fire officials said.
More than 100 firefighters responded to the blaze, which was reported around 10:30 a.m. at Friendly Garden Apartments, a four-story building of low-cost apartments, officials said.
Scott Goldstein, chief of the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Department, said emergency services received a report of an explosion at a building in Silver Spring, north of Washington. According to him, when the rescuers arrived, they found that the building was engulfed in flames.
According to him, several people injured in the fire were seriously injured. There were no reports of deaths on Thursday morning, but rescue teams were still searching the area for survivors.
“We don’t have many people missing,” Chief Goldstein told reporters at the scene.
Large sections of the apartment building were completely scorched by fire, only the facade and side of the building survived. There were large piles of broken bricks scattered around the parking lot. Many residents fled on their own or were rescued by firefighters.
Chief Goldstein said the cause of the fire is still unknown.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Baltimore said on Twitter that the investigators were in the area to assist the county authorities.
In interviews with local television news stations, residents described the heartbreaking scenes of people fleeing the apartment complex after the explosion. One said she saw a woman drop a baby from her window while she struggled to get out herself. One man ran out of the building holding a child.
Some said they smelled the gas before and after the explosion.
“It’s obviously a really tragic event,” Mark Elrich, Montgomery County Executive, told reporters at the scene of the fire. He said the county will ensure that residents who have lost their homes have a home and help them “recover and return to some semblance of normal.”
Mr Elrich said the county will support the displaced residents “for as long as it takes.”
“They can’t just pick up and go and find another place,” he said. “We know that there is an absolute shortage of affordable housing to begin with.”