Multiple injuries reported in Austin, Texas, house explosion
AUSTIN, Texas -- Multiple people were reported injured on Sunday when a two-story house collapsed in Austin, Texas, after witnesses reported hearing a huge explosion, authorities said.
The two-story house collapsed in northwest Austin around 11:25 a.m. local time, according to the Austin Fire Department.
"A two-story house sustained damage from an unknown event that caused the house to collapse," fire officials said in a social media post.
Firefighters extricated three people from the heavily damaged home and continued to search the rubble for other victims, officials said. The conditions of the victims recovered from the debris were not immediately released.
According to the fire department, one firefighter suffered minor injuries after arriving at the scene. It was not immediately clear how the firefighter was injured.
"AFD crews are extinguishing small spot fires in the collapsed debris," fire department officials said in a social media post.
Fire officials said several neighboring homes were damaged, including one that partially collapsed.
Witness Chase Miller shared with ABC News a video he recorded from a parking lot near the scene of the explosion that showed a large plume of smoke billowing from the collapsed house.
Miller told ABC News he was in the parking lot and heard a giant boom, then saw the smoke and started recording.
The explosion was so loud that police in some surrounding communities said they received reports from residents who heard the blast.
"The explosion rocked our house and I looked to make sure my dogs were OK and grabbed my phone and turned it on," Ingrid Vanderveldt of Austin, who also recorded video showing damaged homes near the flattened residence where the blast apparently occurred, told ABC News.
In the video, Vanderveldt and her husband, who live in the neighborhood rocked by the blast, proceeded to inspect the neighborhood with other residents, finding broken windows and damaged doors up and down their street.
