Natural Gas Explosion in Virginia destroys three homes.

Foxnews ^

[ConservativeMan55]

This is breaking on Foxnews. Homes are completely gone.

[twigs]

Where in VA?

[ConservativeMan55]

There was absolutely NOTHING left. You almost couldn't even there that there had been three houses there.

I could barely see the bases for the house.

[ConservativeMan55]

They didn't say where it was. I'm looking at their Web site.

[CJinVA]

FRONT ROYAL, Va.

[twigs]

Thanks. I'm from VA and my mom still lives there. But thankfully not in Front Royal.

[CJinVA]

FRONT ROYAL, Va. -- An investigation is under way to determine what caused an explosion in Front Royal, Va., that killed two people and destroyed three buildings.
There were reports that a diesel truck caused the blast, but Warren County Sheriff Norman Shiflett told News4 he could not confirm that. He said investigators are looking into the possibility that the blast was caused by a propane tank or a natural gas line that runs through that area.


Shiflett said the two people killed lived in two of the houses that were destroyed. One person was inside one of the houses and the other person was standing outside.


When the fire department arrived, the sheriff said two houses were on fire, one house had been leveled, and there were flames coming from a house trailer.
The blast occurred shortly after 6 a.m., on U.S. Route 522 near the Front Royal exit of Interstate 66. State Police have closed Route 522 in both directions at Interstate 66.

A number of area residents reported hearing the blast from as far away as Middletown and Clarke counties. Donald Miller, who lives in Warren County, said he lives approximately 8 miles from the intersection and he heard and felt the explosion.

[ConservativeMan55]

A Diesel Truck?

[OXENinFLA]

It sounds like a pretty powerful explosion.

[SheLion]

A Diesel Truck?

A fireman said it was a natural gas explosion. ugh!

[CJinVA]

[OXENinFLA]

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--explosion-fire0122jan22,0,4803911.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia

Explosion destroys homes


By the Associated Press

Published January 22, 2004

FRONT ROYAL, Va. -- An explosion near a Warren County car dealership destroyed three homes, authorities said Thursday.

The blast happened shortly after 6 a.m. near the intersection of Va. 522 and Interstate 66, authorities said. Officials did not immediately confirm whether anyone was injured.

A worker at a truck stop less than a half mile from the explosion said customers saw a flash, "Then it was cops and cops and more cops."

"There was a rumble and we actually thought one of the (tractor-trailers) had hit the store at first," said Quarles Truck Stop employee Jason Harris. "Other than that, we saw a flash."

Harris said trees obscured a view of the scene.

Quarles employee Diane McNeal told radio station WUSQ that she heard an explosion and saw the home of one of her customers burning. A firefighter, who declined to identify himself, told the station that it was a natural gas explosion.

"We had a couple people that rode out that way, said a couple houses were engulfed in flames," said an employee at a McDonald's restaurant on Va. 522, who declined to give her name.

Jim Sinclair, assistant service manager at Shenandoah Motors, said he saw hazardous-materials crews and numerous fire trucks near the dealership.

Firefighters from Warren and Frederick counties were at the scene. State police closed a stretch of northbound and southbound 522, then opened one lane each way after the fire was extinguished.

A number of area residents, some as far away as Middletown and Clarke County, reported hearing the blast.

[ConservativeMan55]

Thanks for the pics.

[ConservativeMan55]

Oh, LOL! My first thought when I read that was that you actually HEARD it. Chuckle. Was anyone hurt in this explosion?

[ConservativeMan55]

Shiflett said the two people killed lived in two of the houses that were destroyed. One person was inside one of the houses and the other person was standing outside.

[FreedomPoster]

Something like this happened when I was a kid in Annandale VA, in about 1970. Perhaps a 1/2 mile from my house, on my walk to school. 3 or 4 dead, two houses leveled, a third so badly damaged it had to be leveled. My parents were home, they said insulation came down out of the sky like snow. There was plenty of it in the yard.

[ConservativeMan55]

Wow!

[OXENinFLA]

I didn't hear it, I'm in FL.

Shiflett said the two people killed lived in two of the houses that were destroyed.