Pikesville gas explosion injures three

A Pikesville gas explosion about 12 miles northwest of the Baltimore harbor injured three people and sparked a fire in the street, Baltimore County fire officials said.

At least one person was critically injured and taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center for treatment, a Baltimore County Fire Department spokesperson said. The victim’s condition has not been released.

Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) crews were working on a “steel gas main” in the area Friday afternoon (May 14) when fire erupted, the BCFD spokesperson said. She said several structures, vehicles and power lines were enveloped by the fire.

BGE workers were among the injured in the Pikesville gas explosion, said a company spokesperson. One worker was taken to a hospital and another was treated at the scene, near the intersection of Stevenson Road and Janellen Drive. The spokesperson confirmed that BGE employees had been working on a “steel gas main” in the area when the fire broke out.

Firefighters responded shortly before 4 p.m., the department said in a tweet. Two hours later, they still were battling the blaze, but the fire was extinguished at about 7 p.m. after BGE was able to shut off the gas main, Baltimore County Fire Director Tim Rostkowski said.

Pikesville gas explosion: loud boom

Rubin Schechman and his wife, Donna Cary, who live directly across the street from where the explosion occurred, were outside in their yard when they heard a loud boom and saw a flash of light.

Said Schechman: “All of a sudden there was this big explosion. A fireball went probably 50 feet in the air.”

Schechman said he, his wife, and their cat were evacuated by firefighters. As he described seeing one of the injured workers laid out on his lawn by firefighters, he said Cary became tearful, covering her mouth with her hands.

Pikesville gas explosion: gas smell

Schechman said he called BGE to report the smell of gas twice in the week preceding the explosion. Both times, he said, BGE responded quickly.

Sherri Keller, who lives in the Stevenson Ridge-Halcyon neighborhood across from where the fire occurred, came outside after hearing a helicopter over her home. Keller said gas leaks aren’t unusual in the community, but “this was something different,” she said as she stood outside and watched crews work to contain the flames.

Pikesville gas explosion: service restored

The BGE spokesperson said the company was working to make the area safe, work that required it to suspend gas service to about 200 customers. That service was restored the next day.

Pikesville gas explosion injures 3 northwest of downtown Baltimore.

Georgia boat explosion: Two teenagers injured

Officials said two teenagers were among the six people injured May 8 after a Georgia boat explosion on Lake Lanier, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta.

A 16-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy were flown to Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital after the Georgia boat explosion, which occurred near Margaritaville at Lanier Islands at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources reported. A 39-year-old woman was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital by Hall County fire services.

The Georgia boat explosion happened as the boat was refueling at the gas docks at the Port of Indecision, a DNR spokesman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The boat was fully ablaze when first responders arrived.

Authorities in Kansas said they are continuing to investigate the cause of a Holton house explosion that occurred May 9.

One man was killed and a woman was seriously injured in the Holton house explosion at Q4 and 270th Road, just northeast of Jackson Heights High School.

Jackson County sheriff Tim Morse said the Holton house explosion was so strong, people several miles away reported feeling it.

The explosion sparked a fire, which raged for about 4 hours, keeping firefighters on the scene until after 10 p.m.

Photos from the Holton house explosion what appeared to be a foundation, and Morse said a house was located there. Morse said the man was pronounced dead at the scene; the woman was taken by air ambulance for treatment of serious burns.