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U.S. NEWS Monday 26 august 2019

Gas explosion hits office, shopping complex in Maryland

By BRIAN WITTE Howard County Executive Ball said the county will be
A powerful natural gas ex- Calvin Ball in a statement. helping affected business-
plosion badly damaged a No businesses were open, es and workers. "I have mo-
Maryland office complex said Stephen Hardesty, the bilized our team from the
and shopping center Sun- battalion chief of the How- Howard County Economic
day morning, ripping away ard County Department Development Authority to
part of the facade and ex- of Fire and Rescue Ser- assist those businesses and
posing twisted metal, au- vices. He said the time of works who may find them-
thorities said. day played a major role in selves displaced by this
No injuries were reported in the lack of injuries, and he event," Ball said. "We will do
the thundering blast, which described it as one of the everything possible to mini-
occurred at about 8 a.m. It worst explosions he's seen. mize the impact of this ex-
came after authorities said "The building is at risk of col- plosion (on) those who are
they had evacuated the lapsing, so we're working affected by it."
area around the complex with some building inspec- Columbia is about 20 miles
because of a suspected tors and the property own- (32) southwest of Baltimore,
early morning gas leak er to figure out what our Maryland, in a populous A Howard County emergency responder looks on at the dam-
near the complex in Co- next steps are to secure the area between Baltimore age caused by a gas explosion at the Lakeside Office Park in
Columbia, Md., Sunday, Aug. 25, 2019.
lumbia, Maryland. building and help out as and the nation's capital.q Associated Press
Fire crews responded much as we can with the
about an hour before the investigation that's going to
explosion because of a fire ensue with this," Hardesty
alarm that was upgraded said.
to a report of a gas leak Gov. Larry Hogan thanked
in the parking lot, officials first responders for being
said. When fire personnel on the scene within min-
arrived, they immediately utes. The governor said the
evacuated everyone from Maryland Joint Operations
the surrounding area and Center and the State Fire
made sure the building was Marshal have offered their
vacant. full support and assistance.
The subsequent explosion "This massive explosion was
ripped away a significant felt in many of the surround-
part of the facade, scatter- ing communities, a shock
ing debris. to families across the area,"
"It was so powerful it could Hogan said in the tweet.
be heard in communities "Thankfully, no injuries have
many miles away," said been reported so far."