A house with a gas leak exploded in Bel Air on Sunday morning, killing both a BGE contractor at work and the homeowner.
The Harford County Department of Emergency Services responded to the 2300 block of Arthurs Woods Drive in Bel Air around 6:42 a.m. and said one victim was located and pronounced dead at the scene. Emergency officials said another house was partially destroyed and that 12 families have been displaced.
County officials later said the blast had cracked the structure and foundation of at least 16 homes.
Officials for Baltimore Gas and Electric confirmed Sunday evening that the first victim was a BGE contractor working on an electrical problem at the home.
The second victim was located later Sunday afternoon in the remains of the home, and investigators believe the 73-year-old was the homeowner, according to the Office of the State Fire Marshal.
Numerous volunteer firefighters and Harford County Department of Emergency Service special operations personnel were on the scene searching for victims through the use of drones and aircraft, according to the department Sunday morning. Heavy equipment was on-site to remove the debris.
Emergency officials said there is no ongoing threat to the public. The state fire marshal, the Harford County sheriff and the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Task Force are investigating, as well as BGE. Pedestrians are asked to stay away from the area.
“I have been on the job for nearly 18 years, and this is one of the largest explosions I have seen, especially in Harford County,” said Oliver Alkire, master deputy of the Maryland State Fire Marshal.
Leading up to the blast, first responders were dispatched to the area for reports of a gas leak, Alkire said during a Sunday news conference.
Alkire said two workers from BGE were already at the home addressing the electrical problem. In a statement Sunday, the company confirmed that its contractors were present during the explosion. Alkire noted that the BGE workers were aware of the gas odor and apparent gas leak while they were working on the home.
As units from the Harford County Fire and EMS were en route, the call changed from odor of gas to an apparent house explosion, Alkire said.
Upon arrival, crews entered a debris field that covered the street and neighboring yards. Responders found one victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene. A neighboring resident was also treated at the scene for minor injuries, according to Jeffrey Sexton, the public information officer of the Harford County Fire and EMS Association.
Alkire said officials do not believe the scene to be related to a crime. However, “we have to treat every scene like a crime scene because right now, we just don’t know,” he said.
Investigators believe one person lived in the home, but Alkire did not say whether any residents were inside at the time of the explosion. Alkire said the house was listed as for sale; according to Realtor.com, the 5,128-square-foot home had a listing price of $824,900.
County Executive Bob Cassilly arrived on the scene Sunday afternoon with numerous county officials and said some 16 homes were rendered uninhabitable by the blast.
Uninhabitable homes were marked with yellow danger signs advising to “keep out — unsafe structure.” The signs state that anyone not obeying the order to keep out “may be subject to criminal prosecution” due to the structure being out of compliance with international building codes.
“Some of the homes can obviously be fixed, but that is 16 families without homes,” Cassilly said. “Dozens of other homes have broken windows and damage, but neighbors have been out and helping each other, and that is nice to see.”
A neighbor who lives just a few doors down from the blast, Ravi Mattaparthi, was about to leave his house to get breakfast when he and his wife heard the explosion.
Mattaparthi ran outside into the downfall of insulation to confirm that a plane did not fall from the sky, as he’d initially thought.
“I can’t explain it, but it was almost like snow coming down, but that was when we realized there was a gas explosion,” Mattaparthi said. “We tried to call 911, but the lines were jammed because of how many people were trying to report it.”
Mattaparthi’s home suffered minor exterior damage ranging from broken window screens to damage to his garage door. He said almost all the homes on his street were damaged.
Half a mile away, Lisa Czawlytko and her three children were asleep when the explosion startled them awake.
“I woke up instantly, rolled off the bed to grab my children and to make sure it wasn’t an earthquake,” Czawlytko said. “We are on the top floor of our condo building with no elevator, so I wanted to make sure we could get out.”
Czawlytko and her children are residents of the Country Walk Condominiums, half a mile from the scene off South Tollgate Road.
The family of four quickly escaped their home on the fourth floor to see numerous other residents evaluating the damage to their buildings. The blast shook all four of the condominium buildings, causing roof and structural damage to each.
“The roof structure completely buckled, so it sent the aluminum siding from the roof to the ground on four of our condo buildings, and AC vents also popped out from the side of the building,” Czawlytko said. “We do not know if we are safe to stay there, so I took my kids and got out.”
On Kirkcaldy Way, about a mile away from Arthurs Woods Drive, Austin Wright said the explosion shook the paintings on his wall.
“I was woken up by a large explosion — much larger than what you would expect from a thunderstorm — I could feel it in my soul,” Wright said.
Baltimore Sun photographer Amy Davis contributed to this article.
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