Maryland Apartment Explosion: 2 Dead, 32 Injured, Others Missing [UPDATED]

Updated at 2:35 p.m.: SILVER SPRING, MD — A massive explosion and fire tore through a Silver Spring apartment complex overnight, leaving buildings in rubble and killing at least two people. Up to five people were still missing Thursday afternoon. Other residents were recovering from broken bones and other injuries suffered during the building collapse and when they jumped from upper floors.

Thursday afternoon, scorched shoes and clothing remained scattered across several streets and street and more belongings were caught in trees, flapping in the wind.

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services Chief Scott Goldstein said investigators are working to determine if the fire or the explosion came first at the Flower Branch Apartments, 8600 block of Piney Branch Road. The two people known to be killed were found in the rubble left from the fire and building collapse.

The first 911 calls came in at 11:55 p.m. Wednesday, after many families had already gone to sleep for the night.

SEE ALSO: How to Help Victims of Maryland Apartment Fire

Firefighters, police officers, ATF officers and utility workers in searing 90-plus degree heat, the smell of smoke hanging in the air, are doggedly continuing their work investigating the fatal fire. Crews are shoring up the ruins of the apartment to search for those trapped in the rubble.

Police said the operation had shifted from a rescue to a recovery mission for other residents killed. Five people are still missing and unaccounted for, fire officials said about 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

William Callejos, who lives in an apartment behind the two that caught fire, told Patch the explosion woke up his family shortly after midnight.

He and his 18-year old son, playing games on his phone, stood outside the buildings on a grassy area under a few trees with other onlookers.

"I think I lost a friend," said Callejos, who said a man he called Olsa, about 60 years old, is missing.

Callejos and his family are stranded Thursday; his car was parked out in front of the building where the blast took place. It blew out the windows on his Honda.

The Palmer family, a mother and her children, stood outside the police tape trying to see what had happened. "I heard there was a big hole in the building," one of the daughters said Thursday afternoon.

Resident Isaac Duac, 42, was seated Thursday outside the Long Branch Community Center with others who escaped the fire. He said the explosion opened the floor under him and everyone ran for the apartment's outdoor balconies. He helped children down from balconies on the upper floors.

Clara Mazunder, 39, was awakened by a “boom” and saw flames outside her window. As she and her two sons, ages 18 and 10, fled their apartment, Mazunder pounded on her neighbors’ doors yelling “Fuego. Fuego,” she told The Washington Post, using the Spanish word for fire.

On Thursday morning, she was at a temporary shelter still clad in her nightgown. “It was so scary,” Mazunder said. “But I am grateful.”

Residents broke bones as they jumped from windows as firefighters raced to the scene about midnight, while others suffered burn injuries, Goldstein said. Thirty-four people were taken to area hospitals for treatment, including three firefighters who suffered from heat exhaustion.

Children were dropped from windows as residents scrambled to escape the inferno while firefighters were en route. Families told WJLA that young children are among the missing who are now presumed dead.

Carlos Ingles told NBC Washington that he and others ran to help. "Children, they were thrown from the top. I don't have words," Ingles said.

Parents tossed their baby to Ingles, who safely caught the child; he saw two other children jump down into rescuers' arms.

Willie Morales was walking across Piney Branch Road back to the apartment building when he was rocked by the explosion and saw flames coming from the basement and first floor of the building.

He said he screamed, “Fire! Fire! You have to get out!” in English and Spanish while beating on windows to wake residents up. “I’ve never seen a fire like this in my life,” Morales told the Post.

Several survivors told reporters that natural gas was smelled inside the apartment before the explosion. Police and fire officials said it's too early to know what the cause of the fire was.

Montgomery County Councilmember Marc Elrich said that a natural gas odor was reported on July 25.

The fire investigation will be handled by Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service once the ongoing rescue/recovery operation is complete. That operation is hampered by a concern that the building is in danger of collapse, Elrich said. Officials are seeking information from anyone who knows of missing and unaccounted for people who may have been in the apartment building.

»Video from WJLA/Associated Press

The powerful explosion was felt a couple miles away at the Four Corners Fire Station 16.

Goldstein said that people’s injuries range from minor to severe, with burns and broken bones common as people ran for their lives. About 90 people have been displaced from several buildings at the complex and are being sheltered at the Long Branch Community Center.

Fire Department spokesman Pete Piringer said natural gas service to the units fed the flames. More than 160 firefighters from across Montgomery and Prince George's counties responded to the fire.

Two four-level apartment buildings at the complex were damaged by the explosion and fire, with displaced residents gathering temporarily at the Long Branch Community Center.

Tracking Missing, Reuniting Families

Residents who need to report persons unaccounted for after last night's fire should contact MC 311, says the county's emergency management office. MC 311 will not be able to provide the location of missing persons but will get the information to fire investigations for follow-up.

Anyone who lives outside Montgomery County should call 240-777-0311 to ask about fire victims.

A shelter is set up at Long Branch Community Center with help from the Red Cross, which fed breakfast to 100 people Thursday morning. Every household is eligible for support and help in finding a new place to live, said an official, who urged all residents affected by the fire to come forward.

Many of the apartment complex residents are immigrants, officials said. Bilingual specialists in Spanish and Amharic (for Ethiopian families) are at the community center to help families, and a clinic across the road from the community center is taking walk-in patients to get people medications and to provide followup care for anyone discharged from the hospital.

Anyone with missing relatives can also walk into Rolling Terrace Elementary School, 705 Bayfield St. in Takoma Park, where a meeting center has been established.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan released this statement about the explosion and fire at the Flower Branch apartment complex:

“This morning I spoke with Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett following an explosion late last night at an apartment complex in Silver Spring. The state is actively responding to this incident and providing support to the county, local fire fighters, first res ponders, and law enforcement. We will continue to work with local officials and County Executive Leggett, and provide the needed resources to keep residents safe and help to ensure no further damage or loss of life.

The First Lady and I send our deepest prayers and condolences to all those affected by this tragedy, and to the families of those who have lost loved ones.”

Patch Editor Mary Ann Barton contributed photos and reporting to this story.

»Main photo of Flower Branch Apartments from Fort Detrick Forest Glen Fire & Emergency Services – Station 54; fire scene photos from Prince George's County Fire Department courtesy of Marc Bashoor; photo of fire courtesy of Takoma Park Fire Department; daytime photos of fire scene courtesy of Montgomery County Fire Department; photos of resident by Patch Editor Mary Ann Barton