- A Maryland apartment building exploded on Thursday morning, reducing it to rubble.
- Three people were seriously injured in the blast, which remains unexplained, officials said Friday.
- Officials believe the explosion may be linked to maintenance work at the building.
A massive explosion at a Maryland apartment building on Thursday seriously injured three people and landed another 11 people in the hospital, local officials said Friday morning.
A building in the 2400 block of Lyttonsville Road in Silver Spring, Montgomery County, was reduced to rubble early Thursday, leading to a massive blaze that saw around 150 firefighters called out, according to Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service public information officer Pete Piringer.
Piringer described it as a "catastrophic event where the building basically exploded and collapsed."
Nearby resident John Bell, whose home was unharmed, told local outlet WTOP that the explosion "shook it like an earthquake."
Nobody was killed in the blast. As of Friday, officials were working to confirm if there were any visitors at the time of the blast, but all residents were accounted for, Piringer said at a press conference.
Footage of flames engulfing the building were shared by local news organizations and neighbors:
—Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) March 3, 2022
—Cory Smith (@CoryNBC) March 3, 2022
—7News DC (@7NewsDC) March 3, 2022
The cause of the explosion remains unknown, with County Executive Marc Elrich saying prior to Friday's briefing that "we have reasons to believe that there may have been a human error of sorts there," according to local channel WTOP.
The maintenance worker is providing information to investigators, Piringer said at the briefing. He said one "investigative theory" is that the explosion was linked to maintenance work at the building.
Elrich added that the building had a fire inspection on February 2, 2022, and its full triannual building inspection in October 2021.
Around 240 people in neighboring buildings were evacuated Thursday. Six buildings were still without power Friday due to damage to a nearby transformer, Piringer said.
Montgomery County Government tweeted a fundraiser for all those affected by the disaster.