Gas Explosion Destroys Dallas Apartment Building, Killing Three

A natural gas explosion and fire destroyed a two-story apartment building in Dallas’s Oak Cliff neighborhood on Thursday, killing three people, two women and a child, according to NBC News and Newsweek. Two bodies were found in one unit and one in another, Chief Justin Ball said, according to NBC News, and five others were hospitalized or treated for injuries.

The blast came shortly before 1 p.m. on East 9th Street, near the Bishop Arts District, NBC News and Newsweek reported. Dallas Fire-Rescue was called about a gas leak and arrived within two minutes, and “while they were en route to that gas leak, a subsequent explosion occurred,” Deputy Chief Mark Berry told reporters, according to NBC News. The incident was first logged as a two-alarm fire and grew to five alarms; nearly 100 firefighters were dispatched, Newsweek reported.

Early counts of the missing were alarming. Newsweek reported that officials believed 23 residents lived in the building and 11 were unaccounted for. By evening, Chief Justin Ball said officials believed everyone was accounted for, NBC News reported. Of the building’s 22 units, 19 were occupied by families, according to NBC News. Three of the injured were taken to hospitals, NBC News said: one person was in critical but stable condition and two were released or expected to be released that night. Two more went to the hospital on their own with minor injuries, NBC News said.

The operation shifted from rescue to recovery soon after the fire was contained, with crews still conducting primary searches, Assistant Chief James Russ said, according to NBC News. Newsweek reported the fire was under control and that crews moved into “recovery and excavation operations,” in the mayor’s words. A family reunification center was set up at W.H. Adamson High School’s gym, with a family assistance center nearby for displaced residents, Newsweek reported.

The cause is still under investigation. NBC News, citing an NBC DFW report, said a contractor working at the building struck a gas line, and Newsweek relayed the same account. Atmos Energy said Dallas Fire-Rescue notified it at 12:51 p.m. of a natural gas pipeline damaged near 409 E. 9th Street by a construction crew unrelated to Atmos, and gas service in the immediate area was shut off, NBC News reported. The city’s public works director said the city had no active work in that area, according to NBC News. The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to work alongside the fire department’s arson division, NBC News reported.