Firefighters Responding To Blast, Blaze In Allentown, Pa.; Residents Evacuated

Firefighters Responding To Blast, Blaze In Allentown, Pa.; Residents Evacuated

www.mcall.com

A massive explosion rocked center city Allentown at 10:45 p.m. Wednesday night, injuring several residents, downing dozens of high-powered electrical lines and forcing the evacuation of two city blocks and the senior citizens Gross Towers complex, according to radio reports.

The scene was complete pandemonium, with emergency vehicles converging on 13th and Liberty as flames billowed from one structure and threatened several other buildings. Fires from underground gas lines joined the conflagration, emergency radio reports said.

(visit the link for the full news article)

"I see a a fireball," an officer radioed. "It looks like an entire house down."

Another said, "Literally 30 to 40 high-power lines are down everywhere."

Officials declared a Level 1 emergency and began to order the evacuation of Gross Towers, the senior complex.

-- Frank Warner

My heart and prayers out to all there...

This is breaking news...anyone else have news on this?

Several victims drove themselves to local hospitals with what one official described as "blast injuries"; a staging area was set up at the Allen Shopping Center. The 500 and 600 blocks of N. 13th Street were evacuated, and emergency officials were struggling to push back crowds of onlookers.

Some kind of a blast?
Twitter Breaking News

Another article, this one has more info. This does not look like a house at least in my opinion. I see a complex?
www.mcall.com...

www.mcall.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by burntheships


GEESH I wonder if they do fracking there ?
They seem to have an awful lot of blasts, explosions etc...

reply to post by burntheships


Wow and no idea of the cause yet..
Lets just pray people are ok...

reply to post by piercebitchone


Oh my this is so strange!

Look at this article from recent, January 2, 2011?

Evacuated Residents Back In Assisted Living FacilityKatie Shank | Web Producer
Updated: 10:56 pm EST January 2, 2011

UPPER SAUCON TWP., Pa. -- Residents evacuated from an assisted living facility returned to the facility Sunday night.

More than 50 people were evacuated from Sacred Heart's facility in Upper Saucon Township, Lehigh County around 3:30 Sunday morning.

www.wfmz.com...

Prolly a staged event from Janet Napolitano to solidify the case of "home grown" terrorists.

This sounds like a natual gas explosion like happened in California not long ago. Shifting earth...has there been earthquakes in the area?

reply to post by backinblack


Oh this is so strange even more strange!

Here is another report from just barely a week ago!

What is going on there in Allentown PA?

Gas Leak Forces Evacuation Of 30 HomesResidents Allowed To Return After About 3 Hours

January 28, 2011

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- A broken gas main forced dozens of residents to leave their homes Friday morning.

Residents in the 700 block of South Hall Street, near Lehigh Street, in Allentown, reported a smell of natural gas around 7:30.

UGI said its crews arrived on the scene 20 minutes later and, after an initial investigation, decided to call in the fire department as a precaution

www.wfmz.com...

This is sort of a pattern, no?

I need to pull my head out of my ass and start paying more attention...that's not too awful far away from me and I didn't hear anything about it. I'll read more into it when I get on the home computer later, thanks for posting.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

This sounds horrific. They're saying it's a house? Natural gas line explosions can be massive, although those might not be too common up north.

reply to post by burntheships


Sounds like budget cuts are affecting maintanance works to me..
Sad if that's the case...

It says right in the linked article it was a house that exploded that started this. Likely natural gas or a nut building a homemade bomb blew themselves up.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


Luci,

This is so strange, look even another report from 6 months ago there was another evacuation in
a high rise senior citizen complex. ???

Residents evacuated from Allentown high rise after fire

Fire crews responded to a fire at the Richard S. Caliguiri Senior High Rise in Allentown tonight, according to a city 911 dispatcher.

7 months ago on Post Gazette Now


fwix.com...

Edit: is the the same one, or another one from months ago?
pulpnews.com...

www.post-gazette.com...

Originally posted by solarstorm
Prolly a staged event from Janet Napolitano to solidify the case of "home grown" terrorists.

OK I usually agree with you on many topics but people are injured and hopefully no fatalities and you're making political jabs?

Bad form my man, Bad form...

here's a link to page that has live audio from the county..

www.radioreference.com...

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
This sounds horrific. They're saying it's a house? Natural gas line explosions can be massive, although those might not be too common up north.

Don't bet on it...happens a lot in the Tri State area (Penn, Ohio, West Virginia). There are a lot of homes
that use natural gas as well as businesses...a lot of mines underground that can also fill up with gasses of
the explosive nature and just "go off" any time. Used to live back there.

Reply to post by sara123123

I'm not in that immediate area but if there were earthquakes I'm thinking I would be able to feel them too? I don't know, I need to check a map as well and see where I am exactly in regards to that area. We have been having a ton of natural gas drilling all through the mountains here, wonder if it's the same thing as what caused that?


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Go here:

www.radioreference.com...

Alright, here is an article with a photo

This looks like another complex, not just a house? Maybe the house is right next to a complex?

A home explodes in the area of 14th and Allen Sts in Allentown on Wednesday night.

Resdents from Bethlehem reported hearing the ground shake.

(Monica Cabrera/The Morning Call / February 9, 2011)

I cant tell for sure...

www.mcall.com...


What would cause the ground to shake?

Could that be from an undergound explosion that then erupted up top?

reply to post by Holly N.R.A.

Okay. All the houses I've ever lived in up north use oil or propane in tanks. Never even heard of natural gas pipelines until we moved to GA.