LNP, Lancaster, Pa.
(TNS)
Dec. 18—Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect the information from the explosion at Bird-in-Hand Family Inn.
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An explosion at the Bird-in-Hand Family Inn in Leacock Township on Monday, Dec. 18, marked the seventh building explosion in Lancaster County in the last 19 years.
Firefighters responded to a reported explosion at the inn at 2:36 a.m. and arrived to find heavy smoke and fire conditions.
A woman who lived across the street from the inn said she initially thought someone hit her house − when she looked outside, she saw fire at the inn.
At least seven other buildings have been damaged or destroyed in explosions since 2004, according to LNP — LancasterOnline archives. Three of the blasts were fatal.
Here's a look at the explosions over the last 19 years:
Sept. 18, 2023
A house at 1235 W. Bossler Road in West Donegal Township exploded.
Harvey Winters, 68, was found dead following the explosion on Bossler Road, according to the Northwest Regional Police Department. Police and emergency responders were called to the residence at 11:45 a.m. Monday and found the home leveled.
Police said the state police fire marshal is investigating the incident and said the cause has not been determined.
July 5, 2023
The Rapho Township municipal building garage exploded following a reported gas leak.
The Rapho Township Fire Chief responded to the building for a reported propane leak in a carport. A dispatcher with Lancaster County Wide Communications said the building exploded shortly after the chief arrived.
The building had been evacuated and there were no reported injuries. Neighbors reported hearing and feeling the impact of the explosion.
June 1, 2021
The bodies of David Preston and his wife, Victoria, were found in their Mount Joy Township home in the 100 block of Waldheim Road after neighbors reported hearing an explosion before a fire engulfed the house.
Emergency crews responded just before 6 p.m. to the 100 block of Waldheim Road, just off of Mt. Gretna Road ( Route 241) northeast of Elizabethtown, following reports of a large explosion that set a home there on fire. The home collapsed just as firefighters arrived.
Police later determined a month later that David Preston killed his wife with prescription drugs before he lit a flammable substance on and around his body which started the fire. Victoria was dead before the fire started.
July 2, 2017
A UGI worker checking on a reported gas leak at a home in Manor Township was killed July 2, 2017, when the house exploded.
Richard Bouder, 54, died in the blast, and two other UGI workers and a Lancaster Area Sewer Authority employee were injured.
The explosion happened 10 minutes after the homeowner was evacuated and the workers began to look into the possible gas leak.
The house at 206 Springdale Lane was destroyed and four surrounding homes were damaged and had to be condemned. Other nearby homes also were damaged.
The explosion left an estimated $2.2 million in property damage.
In October 2010, the state Public Utility Commission formally approved a settlement under which a UGI Utilities subsidiary would pay a $1.1 million civil penalty, the largest ever paid by the company.
July 1, 2011
An explosion destroyed a car wash in West Lampeter Township just south of Lancaster city.
The blast at 3:30 a.m. blew apart the car wash at 1004 Willow Street Pike, just south of the bridge over the Conestoga River. The explosion propelled debris across the street. It also blew open doors and knocked items off the walls of nearby homes in a mobile home park.
Police cited a Landisville woman for crashing her car into the car wash about 90 minutes before a propane leak ignited into a ball of fire that leveled the facility.
No one was hurt by the blast, but it severely damaged a mobile home and forced a couple and their four children to find other lodging.
September 2, 2006
Six members of a family escaped serious injury when the West Lampeter Township home they were in exploded on the morning of Sept. 2, 2006.
Miguel and Millie Boyer, their three children and their niece were sleeping at 8 a.m. when the house exploded, causing the second floor to collapse into the first.
Neighbors rushed to the home at 39 Apple Blossom Drive and helped the family exit through what had been a second-floor window.
The family moved into a new home on the same site where the previous one was razed and rebuilt, but Miguel Boyer told LNP — LancasterOnline two years after the blast that his family was still having trouble forgetting about the explosion.
The state Public Utility Commission said the blast was caused by a ruptured tee coupling outside the home. It finalized a settlement with UGI Utilities in October 2018 and approved an agreement reached two months earlier that fined UGI $40,000.
March 26, 2004
A UGI worker was injured and seven people were left temporarily homeless after a Lancaster city home exploded on March 26, 2004.
The family at 403 S. Queen St. fled the house and called UGI after smelling gas. The home exploded shortly after a UGI worker went to the basement to check a gas meter.
The UGI worker suffered burns to his hands and face. The natural gas explosion blew out the front door off the house, where, witnesses said, it hit a passing car.
UGI Utilities had to pay a $5,000 civil penalty and replace $90,000 worth of equipment under a settlement finalized with the state Public Utility Commission in February 2009.
The commission ordered UGI to replace about 300 cellphones with "no-spark" models, although a spokeswoman said there was no proof that a UGI employee's cellphone caused the explosion.
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