Maryland house explosion killed 2 people, caused ‘millions’ in damage: Authorities

Two people were found dead and another was injured after an explosion Sunday morning leveled a home and damaged multiple neighboring residences in a suburban Baltimore neighborhood, authorities said. ET on Arthurs Woods Drive in Harford County, in the town of Bel Air, about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore, according to officials. The two people killed in the explosion were identified Monday afternoon by the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office as 35-year-old Jose Rodriguez-Alvarado, a contractor for Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), and 73-year-old Ray Corkran Jr., the owner of the house that was destroyed. Rodriguez-Alvarado was found in the widespread blast debris field and pronounced dead soon after firefighters arrived on the scene Sunday morning, according to the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office. It was buried under the rubble of his home, according to the fire marshal’s office. “With the assistance of heavy machinery, investigators located the victim within the debris,” the fire marshal’s office said of Corkran. A female neighbor living adjacent to the home was also injured and treated at the scene, said Master Deputy Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire. At least 12 families have been displaced by the blast, according to officials, who noted the total number of damaged structures is still being counted. “While they continue to collect information on exact damages, the cost is expected to be in the millions,” according to the sheriff’s office. A photo posted on X by Harford County Fire and Emergency Medical Services showed firefighters battling a small fire and searching the remains of the home, which was reduced to splintered pieces of wood, insulation and other debris. One person was killed on Aug. 11, 2024, when an explosion destroyed a home in Bel Air, Maryland, according to authorities. Hartford County, Maryland, Fire and EMS “I’ve been on the job for 18 years and this was one of the largest explosions I’ve seen,” Alkire said during a news conference. The cause of the explosion remained under investigation Monday by the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Harford County Sheriff’s Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. There is no evidence of criminal activity involved in the explosion and investigators are focusing on accidental causes, according to the Fire Marshal’s Office. This includes physical items such as gas and electrical piping, interviews, video surveillance, and data from BGE,” the state fire marshal said in a statement Monday morning. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigates pipeline accidents that occur during the transport of natural gas or other hazardous liquids, announced Monday that it had also launched an investigation into the house explosion. An NTSB team has arrived in Bel Air and plans to spend a week “documenting the scene and conducting an initial visual examination of the pipeline and equipment involved,” the agency said in a statement. “NTSB investigations involve three primary areas: human factors, the pipeline system, and the operating environment,” the board said. Residents in the neighborhood reported hearing the loud explosion and feeling their houses shake, authorities said. Jefferey Beyers, who lives near the home that was destroyed by the blast, told ABC News that he and his wife were awakened by a “deafening explosion coupled with the kind of feeling of an earthquake.” “I think it’s important to get to the bottom of it, like understand what happened so that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again,” Beyers said. Another neighbor, Marshall Garrett, told ABC News that he immediately rushed to the scene, beating the fire engines there. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/1-person-found-dead-maryland-house-explosion/story?id=112753741