Aug. 14 -- Nine people were injured — one critically — in an apparent natural gas explosion in Denver’s Baker neighborhood Tuesday afternoon, according to the Denver Fire Department.
The incident occurred in the 300 block of Santa Fe Drive and destroyed multiple units in what appears to be a six-unit building, blowing debris into the street.
“I thought it was a bomb,” Alexander Ponton said. “I was scared. I didn’t know what happened.”
Ponton, 24, was driving by when the explosion happened. Rubble came flying at his car, but the debris didn’t break his windows.
He said he got out and helped a couple who had cuts and scrapes.
One woman was trapped after the explosion, but firefighters managed to rescue her, Capt. Greg Pixley said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. She’s in stable condition at Denver Health.
“We hope we don’t find any individuals trapped inside that rubble,” Pixley said.
The injuries range from burns to blunt trauma due to the force of the explosion. Seven of the people injured were across the street from the explosion. None of the people injured were children.
Paul Adams and Margie Brown, who live down the street, said they were watching television when their whole house shook.
“It sounded like an airplane crashed” Brown said.
The couple stepped outside and saw a huge plume of smoke and scattered debris.
Xcel spokeswoman Michelle Aguayo said company employees are on scene and working with Denver Fire. She was unable to confirm whether anyone had called Xcel to report a natural gas smell before the explosion.
Pixley said the leak is still active and it’s still considered a dangerous situation. His worst case scenarios would be additional explosions or finding bodies in the rubble.
Denver Police have closed Santa Fe Road from First to Third avenues.
There is still an active fire in the building and the smell of natural gas lingered in the area as of 2 p.m. Tuesday. Fire officials adjusted the initial number of people injured from 10 to nine.
___ (c)2018 The Denver Post Visit The Denver Post at www.denverpost.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
