Crews scour the site of a deadly Dallas apartment blast and fire searching for more possible victims
DALLAS (AP) — Authorities are searching Friday for more potential victims of an explosion and massive fire that destroyed a Dallas apartment building and killed at least three people as firefighters rushed to the site of a reported gas leak.
The explosion Thursday afternoon shook nearby homes and the resulting inferno razed the two-story complex. A child and two other people were killed and at least five people were injured and sent to hospitals, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesperson Jason Evans said.
It was unclear how many residents lived in the complex in the Oak Cliff neighborhood south of downtown Dallas, where a towering plume of black smoke was visible for miles immediately after the explosion.
Several blocks of streets around the explosion site were still closed off by police cars and police tape on Friday morning. Law enforcement officials and workers in bright yellow vests could be seen around the rubble of what was once the apartment building. The odor of the fire still hung over the area as investigators searched through the charred wreckage. Authorities maintained a security perimeter of several blocks around the site, and several fire trucks and police vehicles were still on scene.
The Associated Press reached out to Dallas Fire-Rescue for updates on fatalities and the number of people still missing.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Friday it was sending a team to investigate. The agency investigates gas pipeline accidents, but did not immediately respond to an email requesting more details.
Evans did not rule out that more victims could be found as crews sifted through the charred remains. By late Thursday, Evans said firefighters had searched less than half of the scene by hand and that some areas would require excavation.
Dallas Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Mark Berry said firefighters were responding to a call of a gas leak when the explosion happened.
“We had the cavalry coming,” Berry said. “But the explosion had already taken place.”
Atmos Energy, a natural gas provider, said in a statement they were told by fire officials that a construction crew unrelated to the company had damaged a pipeline near the site of the fire. The company did not provide further details.
Natural gas service to the area remained shut off, and company officials were working with investigators on-site, the company said.
Sherry Woods, who lives in an apartment across an alleyway from the fire site, said Friday she was sitting outside her front door when she and her boyfriend smelled what they believed to be gas.
Moments later, the explosion nearly knocked her down.
“All you heard was ‘boom.’ I shook like something was hitting me. It was scary to hear something like that. I felt the building shake,” Woods said.
Authorities set up a family reunification center at a nearby high school. Several hours after the blaze, Frances Rizo was still trying to find her friend who lived in the building.
“She’s not answering her phone,” Rizo said.
Trish Thompson surveyed the site from across a grassy field Friday morning and could see the gap on the block where the apartment complex stood just 24-hours earlier.
Thompson, who lives nearby, described hearing a “loud rumble, something more like a train to me” and seeing smoke and fire.
“Pray for them,” Thompson said.
___
Associated Press journalist Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed.
© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
