HARRISBURG, Pa. --
A house collapsed at Hummel and Kittaninny streets in Harrisburg Friday afternoon.
The house has been vacant for the past two years.
UGI first got a call for reports of a gas leak at noon Friday. Firefighters checked the area for a gas leak, but did not find any evidence of one, they said.
Fire crews left when a UGI worker arrived at the scene. When she was in the process of checking for a leak, the building exploded and collapsed, a UGI official said.
There was an intense flash fire that quickly put itself out, according to the fire chief said.
It was a flash fire. The building exploded and erupted into a fire and the concussion blew the fire out, said Fire Chief Robert Talloni.
Talloni is calling search dogs to the scene to make sure no one is under the rubble.
"It was really an act of god that no one got hurt," he said.
Jeremiah Beistline lives next door, and he was sitting on a nearby deck. "Then the building just blew up," Beistline said. "I ran downstairs, came out to make sure everybody was okay, and then I see the building and what actually happened. "I was shocked."
It is believed that no one was hurt. The house has been vacant for the past two years.
UGI attempted to turn off the gas service last month, but a worker reported not being able to access the house because of trash blocking the entrance.
Talloni said in his 28 years in firefighting he has never seen anything like this.
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