GLOUCESTER, Mass. --
A police officer was flown by medical helicopter to Boston Sunday morning after a massive explosion leveled his home, igniting a multiple-alarm fire.
NewsCenter 5's Jim Morelli reported that Gloucester police Officer Wayne Sargent was pulled from the rubble of the house by neighbors, who ran into the smoldering remains of the structure to rescue him.
According to police officials, Sargent, 59, suffered burns to his upper torso and is in critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Crews were called to his home at 76 Eastern Ave., in the area where Route 128 ends, for a fire that rose to as many as three alarms by 9 a.m.
"I wouldn't think anyone would be coming out of there after I heard that blast and saw the house," said neighbor David Swift, who was one of the first people to reach the scene of the explosion.
Swift said that Sargent was conscious and on his feet after the blast. Neighbors found him underneath a stairwell in the basement and assisted him out of the home before it was consumed by flames.
Officials said that Sargent, a 31-year veteran of the police department, had just returned home from an overnight shift and was speaking on the telephone with his oil company to report the smell of gas when the house blew apart.
National Grid has been working in the area for several weeks trying to fix a gas leak, which crews had yet to find at the time of the explosion.
Sargent received a commendation several weeks ago for helping to peacefully disarm and arrest a man allegedly hurling knives at police officers down a staircase, according to the Gloucester Daily Times.
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