STERLING, Va. — Three firefighters are still in the hospital following a house explosion in Sterling, Virginia, late Friday night.
One Sterling volunteer firefighter, Trevor Brown, has died. The community is heartbroken over the loss.
"We lost a family member," Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Chief Keith Johnson said.
Just after 7:30 p.m. Friday night, multiple fire crews responded to reports of a gas odor at a home on Silver Ridge Drive.
Fire crews found an underground 500-gallon propane tank leaking into another house, also on Silver Ridge Drive. Then, at 8:25 p.m., there was an explosion.
People near and far felt the impact.
"It felt like the whole house was shaking," Maria Roderiguez said, a resident in the neighborhood for 16 years.
"It definitely felt like and sounded like a big boom," neighbor Elizabeth Campbell said.
The two people and pets inside the home were evacuated beforehand. Brown died on scene. Ten other firefighters were taken to local hospitals. The woman inside that home walked away with minor injures.
"We saved her," Johnson said. "So our folks did their job. They showed up and they did what they had to do."
On Saturday the community thanked the firefighters for their heroic actions.
"That was incredible," Campbell said. "Incredible heroism to walk into something that you don't know what is waiting for you."
"You guys are risking your life to day in and day out, every single to day, to save somebody else's life, and its a miracle," Rodriguez said. "It is a blessing from the sky to have firefighters."
Chief Johnson says this was an isolated incident. They are still investigating the cause of the fire, but can assume it was propane related, Johnson said. A key part of this ongoing investigation figuring out why and how this gas leak started.
One neighbor shared doorbell video showing the moments when the explosion happened. You can hear someone yell for help.
"It was so devastating," Roderiguez said.
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