On Friday, Feb. 16 at around 8:30 p.m., a house in Sterling, Virginia exploded with 12 firefighters inside. What should have been a routine response to a gas leak turned catastrophic when the house exploded, leaving one dead and 11 injured firefighters as well as two injured civilians.
At around 7:40 that night, firefighters responded to a call at a house on Silver Ridge Dr. in Sterling, VA, which was reported as a propane tank leak. While checking the basement, firefighters were exposed to the leak that became catastrophic when the house exploded, leaving the property completely leveled and trapping the 12 firefighters inside.
Immediately after the explosion, firefighters from Loudon County, the Sterling rescue squad, police, and other first responders arrived and fought to get the firefighters out. “Loudoun County Fire Asst chief, clearly shaken, confirms that one firefighter has sadly died, nine others injured. Two civilians also injured in the Sterling House explosion. The extent of their injuries not known,” Shirin Rajaee from FOX5 tweeted.
After the minor 2.3 magnitude earthquake felt across Montgomery County on Jan. 2, citizens were confused about another big boom only a month later. “Maryland is not somewhere that normally has earthquakes, so to feel two booms only a month apart concerned me,” senior Gracie Schulwolf said.
ASL teacher Lea Clark, who was in Virginia at the time, didn’t feel anything. “I was in Leesburg that day and didn’t feel it but a friend of mine who lives in Clarksburg felt it all the way out there,” Clark said.
The boom was described as a sound similar to a car driving into a house or a sonic boom, which worried people, as they weren’t sure what had just occurred. MoCo show posted an update 25 minutes after the sound, explaining that the loud boom was most likely a house explosion in Virginia.
A neighbor across the street from the scene, AJ Albaladejo, noted pictures falling from her wall and debris flying into her yard. The explosion caused damage to at least six other residential structures in the area. “I had just come home from the gym, It shook the entire house,” Albaladejo said to The New York Times.
Along with the injured firefighters, two women who lived in the house were injured from the explosion as they were leaving the property. Albaladejo, who is a nurse, stepped in to help as much as she could. “It’s a miracle that they did make it out,” she said to The New York Times. “They were just outside of the driveway and leaving the premises when the house exploded.”
The loss of firefighter Trevor Brown from Loudon County Fire and Rescue Squad shook the community. A Celebration of Life was held on Mar. 4 at 11 a.m. at Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, VA, and was available virtually. Currently, only one firefighter is still hospitalized and an investigation has been started to determine exactly what occurred.
