An explosion at a nursing home in eastern Pennsylvania left at least two people dead, injured several others and collapsed part of the building, trapping people inside, on Tuesday afternoon.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told reporters Tuesday night that two fatalities had been confirmed, though multiple people were still missing. He said he expected updates throughout the night as rescue workers continued searching the badly damaged facility.
The PECO energy service said the explosion occurred around 2:15 p.m., shortly after its workers responded to reports of a gas odor at the Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bristol, about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia.
The Bensalem Volunteer Fire Department indicated the explosion appeared to have occurred in the building’s basement. A thick plume of smoke could be seen rising from the nursing home, as emergency responders, fire trucks and ambulances from across the region rushed to the ensuing fire.
In a statement after the blast, PECO said its crews made sure to “shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents.”
State and county emergency management officials said they received a report that a portion of the building had collapsed and that several people were trapped inside.
As of Tuesday evening, the cause of the explosion remained unclear, as did the exact number of dead and injured. Roughly 150 residents occupy the nursing home, according to NBC News.
Gov. Shapiro said that new owners had taken over the facility at the beginning of the month, and that a plan had been put in place by the Department of Health to “upgrade the standards” of the nursing home.
The most recent health department inspection had been conducted on Oct. 29, and found the facility was not in compliance with several requirements of the Life Safety Code. The deficiencies included a failure to maintain proper stairways, smokeproof enclosures and portable fire extinguishers. It’s unclear of those issues had been fixed prior to Tuesday’s explosion.
Between 2012 and 2014, the leading cause of nursing home fires was cooking-related, though larger non-confined blazes were most often blamed on appliance and electrical issues, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
The nation’s deadliest nursing home fire occurred in 1957 when 72 people were killed at the Katie Jane Memorial Home in Warrenton, Mo., according to the Warren County Historical Society. That “15-minute holocaust” is believed to have been an electrical blaze caused by faulty wiring.
With News Wire Services
