Two people were injured in a home explosion Monday afternoon in Charles Town, West Virginia. It happened at a home on Cloverdale Road, and the blast rocked the Jefferson County community shortly after noon.
“We got dispatched for a reported structure fire with explosion; crews arrived on the scene with fire all over the structure,” said Chief Larry Herbst with the Citizens Fire Company.
Herbst said the extent of the injuries to the two people inside the home is currently not known, but one of the individuals was flown to MedStar Washington Hospital Center in D.C. The second person was taken by ambulance to a local hospital.
A heating and air conditioning repair company was at the home and was working in the basement when the explosion occurred, but what sparked the blast remains under investigation, Herbst said.
HOME EXPLOSION: Aerial footage over Charles Town, West Virginia shows firefighters on the scene after a gas explosion destroyed a home; two HVAC techs working in the basement were injured. More tonight. https://t.co/U6ijDRHurG pic.twitter.com/AraeT5AWeZ
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) November 11, 2019
“I’m not sure if there was a gas leak that found an ignition source — it’s still undetermined at this time,” Herbst said.
The fire reached three-alarms and took more than 40 firefighters around 45 minutes to extinguish. Neighboring fire departments from both West Virginia and Virginia responded to the call to help.
Though Herbst said he has handled situations like this before, none come to recent memory. “It’s been a while since we’ve had an explosion like this due to gas inside of a residence,” Herbst said.
