SILVER SPRING, Md. — Terror in the sky as bright orange flames shoot from the roof of an apartment building in the 2400 block of Lyttonsville Road in Silver Spring Friday morning.
Montgomery County Firefighters confirm an explosion led to the flames and shortly afterward, the 4-story building collapsed.
Neighbor Garfield Thompson heard the loud bang and saw the fire. He jumped the fence and started taking cellphone video as neighbors tried to help a traumatized woman who had just escaped the fire. Others run into nearby buildings banging on doors to make sure neighbors escape.
Crews rushed to rescue the trapped inside including 83-year old Blanche Hall. Our cameras captured a firefighter on a ladder truck carrying Hall on his back and walking her down to safety. She later joined several other displaced residents seeking safety and treatment inside a bus nearby.
Hall was later helped off the bus and onto a stretcher. Family members said she was heading to Holy Cross Hospital to receive treatment.
Her grandson, T.J. Hall, told us he was with his grandmother inside the home earlier that day.
“When I opened the door I said, ‘did you smell that? It smells like gas’ - she said ‘I know, I’m going to call somebody about that,” Hall recalled. “I left and then about an hour later I got a call saying that the whole building blew up and the whole building collapsed! I rushed here. They got my grandma out on a ladder truck. I was scared. I still got friends stuck in the building and the whole building came down. I was so scared for my grandma and I was worried and rushed over here as fast as I could to make sure my grandma was OK.”
Yolene Rejouit was sitting in the grass nearby waiting on phone calls and updates from the hospital. Rejouit said she raced home from work after hearing the news. Her mother, aunt and sister were in their second-floor apartment and managed to get out alive.
“We don’t know if my aunt broke her leg but it’s very swollen,” she described. “My mom has something on her thigh and my sister on her head. She said the roof collapsed on top of them.”
And as crews continue to dowse hotspots and search the wreckage, families breathe for just a moment as they reflect on the worst day of their lives and the miracle of survival.
At least 10 people were injured in a two-alarm fire and explosion that engulfed a 4-story apartment building in Silver Spring Thursday morning.