A large fire in Harford County, Maryland, burned through eight homes and displaced 26 people late on Saturday night, officials reported.
Multiple residents of the town of Aberdeen, Maryland called 911 on Saturday night to report several large explosions and a fire in a residential townhome neighborhood, according to Fox 5. The explosions and subsequent two-alarm fire started around 10:45pm on Saturday, and took firefighters more than two hours to get under control.
“I open my garage and I just saw it engulfed. No one was outside. So, I ran around front. I didn’t hear no alarms or anything. That scared me, so I started banging on all the neighbor’s doors and telling them they have to get out,” Aberdeen resident Davia Jones told WBAL-TV.
The damage caused three homes to collapse. Soot, water and intense heat damaged several of the neighboring properties, including some of those across the street, according to WBAL-TV. The total property loss has been estimated at $5 million, according to Fox 5.
At least one firefighter suffered a non-life-threatening injury during the ordeal, officials told the outlet. It is believed that the fire started in rear area of one of the units in the center row of homes, Fox 5 reported.
The actual cause of the destruction remains unknown at this time, but it appears that no one was injured. (RELATED: Fire Dept. Declare UCSB Party ‘Multi-Casualty Incident’)
Newsreel footage shared by WBAL-TV 11 on Monday morning stated that the total number of those left homeless by the fire reached 26, including seven children. Neighbors described just seeing “orange” in the sky after a series of explosions rocked their properties.