A woman is dead, a man has been hospitalized and a dozen households have been displaced after a freak explosion Tuesday evening leveled a house in the Glenmore subdivision east of Charlottesville.
Neither the dead nor the injured has been identified by Albemarle County authorities, but neighbors said they were not the homeowners.
The homeowners were out of the country at the time of the explosion, neighbors told The Daily Progress, and people were at the house “to turn something off” while they were away.
One neighbor said when they attempted to approach the scene authorities told them and others there was an active gas leak.
The Albemarle County fire marshal could not immediately determine the cause of the blast Tuesday.
“Fire crews have confirmed there is no active gas leak at this time,” the county fire department said in a statement late Tuesday night.
Career and volunteer crews with Albemarle County Fire Rescue were dispatched around 6 p.m. to a reported explosion at 2331 Ferndown Lane in Glenmore, the largest gated subdivision in Albemarle County.
One neighbor said it sounded like an airplane had crashed; others said the explosion could be felt and heard for blocks. They said when they stepped out of their own houses they saw debris raining from the sky, including insulation and tax documents.
“The first units arrived on the scene approximately 4 minutes later to discover one home completely leveled to the ground,” the fire department said in its statement.
A woman was found deceased and a man injured at the scene, according to the fire department. The man was transported to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville in what officials only described as “serious condition.”
“12 neighboring homes sustained varying levels of property damage from the impact and debris, and those occupants will be displaced,” the fire department said.
Those households are being assisted by the American Red Cross.
The public has been asked to stay clear of 2331 Ferndown Lane.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com