Utility contractor, resident killed in Bel Air house explosion
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Publicado 2024-08-12
"All of a sudden a massive explosion a bomb went off. All the doors blew open, front door blew open, the basement doors blew open, the back door blew open," neighbor Chuck Laubach said.
The explosion happened at a home on Arthurs Woods Drive, which was leveled by the blast. Twelve other neighbors are displaced with damage to their homes. Laubach considers himself lucky. He lives just two doors down and his home suffered only minor damage. But the front door of the home that exploded landed in his backyard.
"The front door actually went above the house next door and landed in our backyard and again everything shattered in the house the backyard but we’re lucky because the force of the explosion went just to the right of us," Laubach said.
The State Fire Marshall, the ATF, and BGE are all sifting through the debris to figure out exactly what happened. Officials said a BGE contracted crew was on the scene to fix an electrical problem in the area, when someone called 911 to report the smell of gas. Then the house exploded. Neighbors ran outside and saw the BGE contractors.
"He screamed to me, 'I can’t find my partner' or whatever he said at the time," witness Dieter Thomann said.
Officials confirmed one of the BGE contractors died in the explosion. Hours later, the body of the homeowner was found in the debris, a 73-year-old man who was wheelchair bound.
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