Deadly House Explosion Sparks Multiple Fires in Sacramento

Darrell Smith, Nathaniel Levine

The Sacramento Bee

(TNS)

A fire and explosion leveled a Sacramento home early Thursday, killing one and igniting multiple South Oak Park buildings in a blast that could be heard blocks away.

The 6:15 a.m. explosion destroyed the home on the 4000 block of 39th St., near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, said Sacramento Fire Department Capt. Justin Sylvia. Fire dispatchers received numerous calls reporting the blast. Fire crews arrived to find the 39th Street home well involved in flames, with fires starting at other homes amid more explosions, Sylvia said.

“At that point, there were multiple explosions that were being heard throughout the time of dispatch and once our units arrived,” Sylvia said. One house was beyond saving, Sylvia said, crews quickly pivoting to the structures they could save.

“We couldn’t save that house, we need to save the others surrounding it,” Sylvia said.

Eyewitness video captured by Duane Johnson shows the structure fully engulfed in flames as a series of explosive bursts erupted over the span of about a minute. At least one distinct explosion was visible, sending embers and debris skyward as firefigthers worked to build attack lines and bystanders watched from across the street.

One person in the video exclaimed, “The whole house shook.”

Sacramento Fire Department crews were able to knock down the fire at the doomed home while turning their attack to the other structures, the fire captain said.

It was then that firefighters made the grim discovery: one person dead inside the home. The person has not yet been identified.

“Right now, we’re investigating what happened,” Sylvia said from the scene. “We’re trying to get everyone out of this area and slow this scene down to make sure the fire’s out and do a full investigation.”

Melaninisha Flowers said her children were in the shower getting ready for school when their home shook and everyday objects began to fall of counters.

“We just heard a big ol’ boom, and everybody came outside, and then you see a bunch of smoke everything flying in the air,” Flowers said. “Yeah, it was pretty scary.”

She said she wasn’t sure what caused the explosion, but the impact was immediate and frightening.

“I’m not sure what caused it, but I just know that when the whole house shook, I came outside,” she said. “There was smoke in the air, everything flying in the air from the house on fire, and everybody outside and windows — people’s windows — broke and everybody’s dogs were just running around scared,” she said.

The moment left her shaken.

“Me, personally, I don’t know if it sounds crazy, but I felt like something fell out of the sky and I thought we could be at war or something,” she said. “It was really scary.”