Eleven firefighters and two other people were injured after a house fire and explosion in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, authorities said.
Salisbury Fire Chief Bob Parnell confirmed that the firefighters sustained contusions, concussions and smoke inhalation but none had life-threatening injuries. The two other individuals were taken to hospital, though their conditions were not immediately known, and it was unclear whether they were inside the property at the time of the blaze.
The Salisbury Fire Department responded to a single-family home around 5pm and found it fully engulfed in flames. Of the 22 firefighters at the scene, 11 had entered the building to search for occupants and tackle the fire before the explosion occurred.
Chief Parnell described the force of the explosion, saying: “It was enough force that the outside walls blew out, the roof came up and went back down.”
