7 p.m. UPDATE (Heather Curtis): Police have removed the bodies of two victims from the apartment complex and continue searching for the missing.
Battalion Chief Steve Mann with Montgomery County Fire said it took crews the better part of the day to stabilize the building enough to safely get inside and remove the bodies. The names of the victims were not given.
Assistant Chief of Montgomery County Police Department’s Investigative Services Bureau Russ Hamill said the bodies were taken to the office of the medical examiner for autopsies.
Police still don’t know how many people are missing but have tracked down some whose families were looking for them. Rolling Terrace Elementary School has been set up as a re-unification center.
Search and rescue teams expect to wrap up their work for the night around 9. A fence has been installed around the scene, and police officers will be stationed there throughout the night.
UPDATE (Heather Curtis): The bodies of two people were found in the rubble that once was the Flower Branch Apartment complex. Neither of the victims had been identified as of an update from officials at 11:30 Thursday morning.
“Our recovery efforts are gonna have to wait until the building’s shored up enough for people to go inside, for our detectives to go inside,” said Russ Hamill, the assistant chief of Montgomery County Police Department’s Investigative Services Bureau.
A number of people haven’t been accounted for, but police don’t know how many.
The cause of the explosion is being investigated.
“There was in fact a call, which the fire and rescue responded to on the 25 of July for which they responded to some incidence or smell of gasoline in the area,” said Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett.
A total of 43 people, including three firefighters, were taken to area hospitals to be treated for injuries ranging from minor to critical. As of 2:30 Thursday afternoon hospital officials said most of those people had been treated and released.
The Long Branch Community Center has been converted into an emergency shelter complete with cots and food. The Red Cross National Capital Region will be talking to individual families to figure out what they need and how to help them.
The director of Montgomery County’s Department of Health and Human Services Uma Ahluwalia, said all the victims are eligible for help.
“I really want to stress that people should not be afraid to come. If there are multiple households living in a unit, every single one of them is eligible for support and assistance for relocation,” said Ahluwalia.
A number of non-profits are collecting donations to help the victims. People can donate money online at www.mhpartners.org. Toiletries, canned/boxed food and clothing can be brought to the CASA Welcome Center, a Wider Circle or the Adventist Community Services of Greater Washington.
John Matthews
WMAL.com
SILVER SPRING, MD — (WMAL) A massive explosion and fire at an apartment complex in Silver Spring has injured 30 people and left as many as 90 people homeless.
The blast emanating from the Flower Branch apartments on Piney Branch Road just before midnight was so powerful that firefighters felt it a mile away before the 911 calls started pouring in.
Fire crews arrived minutes later to find residents already using ladders taken off of nearby work trucks to rescue people trapped on the second and third floors of the building. Other victims couldn’t wait to be rescued, and ended up jumping.
Several of the people taken to hospitals suffered broken bones, while others are being treated for burns and smoke inhalation.
The injured include three firefighters in addition to 30 civilians. Five to seven people are still missing, and K9 units are poking through the rubble looking for them. The fire itself has mostly been put out, but there’s no word yet on a cause.
Copyright 2016 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: WMAL/Heather Curtis)
