An apparent explosion set off a roaring blaze that ripped through a 20th Street home late Wednesday afternoon.
The blast blew out one of the side walls of the two-and-a-half-story brick structure, did extensive damage to the rear wall, and caused the roof, chimney and attic to collapse in on a second-floor apartment.
A woman and her pet dog, living in a first-floor apartment, were able to escape without injury. The second-floor tenant, who was in the process of moving into his apartment, was not home at the time of the incident.
“I never thought I’d be in a story in the paper,” Shaquille Walker told a reporter.
Walker said that as he was moving in Wednesday afternoon he smelled what he thought might be natural gas. He said he called the utility company, National Fuel and then left the apartment.
When he returned to the 20th Street home, shortly after 5 p.m., to meet a National Fuel technician, the house was a raging inferno and his new apartment was filled with debris from the attic, roof and chimney.
“My intuition was correct,” Walker said. “But we were too late.”
Walker said he had already moved almost all his belongings into his new apartment.
“Everything was moved in there,” he said. “Thankfully, I got my shoes, my computer and my cell phone. And I can still stay at my old apartment. But this is a true chance to restart.”
Falls firefighters said they responded to a call of an explosion at the 20th Street home around 5 p.m., and that when they arrived they saw “heavy fire” coming from all sides of the structure.
William Burn, a neighbor who lives at the rear of the 20th Street home, said he and his daughter were inside their residence when “We just heard an explosion.”
“We came running out and there were people scattering,” Burn said. “There was an addition (at the rear of the home) that was blown out and flames. You see that stuff on TV and we were (right behind it).”
The blast and fire left the home destroyed. City code enforcement officials have ordered an emergency demolition of the structure.
Two homes on either side of the destroyed structure both suffered damage to their exteriors.
Fire officials said they called in extra crews with reserve equipment to man the city’s fire halls. All the city’s fire equipment, with the exception of Engine 9, were at the explosion scene.
Fire investigators said it was too early in their probe to determine the exact cause of the explosion and fire.