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At least one person has died after an apparent explosion leveled a house in a town northeast of Baltimore, fire officials said Sunday.
Andrew Doyle, a public information officer for Harford County Fire and EMS, confirmed the death in an email.
The victim was identified as a utility contractor, according to WBAL-TV. At least one other person was hurt during the blast in Bel Air, Maryland.
A photo posted by Hartford County officials showed a number of firefighters around the rubble of one home with another damaged home in the background. Charred pieces of wood were heaped on the property, and insulation and splintered wood spilled out into the street.
Emergency personnel were using special equipment to search the rubble.
Emergency responders received calls about a gas leak in the area around 6:40 am Sunday, before the explosion, according to reports.
Contractors were on scene at the time of the explosion.
The home that exploded was for sale and investigators are working to determine if the homeowner was present at the time of the blast.
“The main thing is this is still an active scene, still an active investigation,” Harford County Fire and EMS Association spokesman Jeffrey Sexton said, according to WBAL. “With it still being an active scene, we are asking the general public to be respectful of a couple different things, one, they are still working on notification of kin to the unfortunate fatality. In addition to that, we are also asking people to be mindful that it is still an active crime scene. They want to make sure that people are not flying personal drones in the area.”
