Explosion levels Washington County home

A house in North Franklin Township in Washington County was leveled by an explosion Wednesday afternoon, according to Tribune-Review news partner WPXI.

First responders told Channel 11 that residents smelled gas and fled the Park Avenue home before the explosion, which reduced the home to rubble and splinters around 4 p.m.

BREAKING: House leveled after explosion in North Franklin Township. Two firefighters injured - minor injuries. pic.twitter.com/cb2FbwYnHS

— Cara Sapida (@WPXICara) July 31, 2019

Five people were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The explosion was powerful enough to blow out neighbors’ windows, WPXI reported.

Christi Frauenholz, of Canton, Ohio, whose husband was working at the nearby Washington & Jefferson College, told the Observer-Reporter that she and others “were about knocked off our feet.”

Firefighters had been in the area investigating a gas smell in the neighborhood before the blast, township Supervisor Bob Sabot said.

State police were asking anyone who sustained property damage from the explosion to call the Washington barracks at 724-223-5200.

Columbia Gas said on Twitter that it had completed inspection of the gas system and relighting customers would start at 11 p.m. and continue throughout the night.

UPDATE: The interruption of service and steps we are taking are out of an abundance of caution. As always, if you smell gas please get to a safe place and call 911 and Columbia Gas at 1-888-460-4332.

— ColumbiaGasPA (@ColumbiaGasPA) August 1, 2019

The utility asked residents who had not had their service restored to keep their porch lights on. For those not home, door hangers will be left informing them of the outage and asking that they call Columbia at 888-460-4332.