Pioneer Press Newspapers, Suburban Chicago
(TNS)
A power line felled by Thursday afternoon storms appears to be the cause of an explosion at a BP gas station in west suburban Berwyn.
The gas station market on Ogden and Oak Park avenues exploded into flames as high as 20 feet and was destroyed, according to witnesses.
No one was injured in the afternoon blast, said Berwyn Ald. Micah Caldwell, 1st. The fire had been contained by Thursday evening, but was not extinguished.
The explosion and fire occurred around the time that a line of thunderstorms with high winds moved across the area, knocking out power to thousands.
Berwyn police and fire officials couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.
Deandra Loggins, 44, who lives directly across from the gas station, was with his two sons outside his building when he noticed sparks coming from the power line that had fallen. The ground started to “pop” and “burst,” Loggins said.
According to Loggins, the local fire department arrived when the power line started to disrupt the concrete. Caldwell said there was already a small fire in the alley behind the gas station.
The firefighters appeared to keep their distance from the power line as they waited for the power to be shut off, Loggins said.
But before the power could be disconnected, he added, the power line made contact with a gas line and ignited the fire. When Loggins felt the force of the explosion and heard a “boom” sound, he said he ran away from the BP.
“It was like a bomb went off,” he said. “It was a sound I had never heard before, like one you hear in the movies. The scene looked like a freaking war zone.” He and his kids ran towards their apartment building. “When I looked back, the gas station was destroyed,” he said.
The impact of the explosion shattered glass in surrounding buildings and knocked a window screen off Loggins’ apartment.
Both his building and the one next to it lost power, as well as several more blocks of buildings. Loggins received a text from ComEd that his power would be restored by 8:30 p.m., but Caldwell said it’s unclear how long power will be out, as ComEd will likely need to wait out the fire before fixing the power outage.
“What I’m doing right now is letting residents know that power might be out for some time, for the foreseeable future, until this really gets under control,” Caldwell said.
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