Officials investigate house explosion

Fire department authorities suspect gas leak caused destruction of home in Second Ward

The residence of two elderly people exploded in the Second Ward on Friday morning, blowing out the exterior walls and leaving a skeleton of the house remaining.

The Houston Fire Department responded around 10 a.m. to calls about the explosion in the 100 block of North Bryan Street, District Chief Theodore Rocha said. The two elderly occupants of the home were not present at the time of the blast.

Firefighters treated some neighbors who had suffered minor injuries on the scene and put out small fires in the dining room, bedroom and kitchen areas, Rocha said. The two houses on each side of the home had some broken windows and damaged siding. Half of the roof landed on a car parked in a neighboring driveway.

Fire investigators are working with CenterPoint Energy to investigate the cause of the explosion.

The blast is thought to have been caused by a gas leak, Rocha said, but this has not been confirmed as the official cause of the explosion.

Several neighbors witnessed the powerful explosion, including Michelle Hernandez, 37, who

lives in the house across the street.

“I felt it,” she said, adding she looked out her window, saw the damage and called 911.

Victor Maldonado, 26, and Joshua Riles, 29, had been chatting on the second-floor porch of Riles’ apartment two doors down from the site of the explosion.

Their conversation was interrupted by a deafening boom that shook the apartment.

“It was like an earthquake,” Maldonado said. “I saw the roof jump.”

The two men immediately went over to the damaged house to check on their neighbors. Once he was in the house, Maldonado said that he heard and smelled a gas leak.

“I was dizzy,” he said. “I was falling everywhere.”

He suffered some minor cuts and bruises, but was able to be treated on the scene.

The two were relieved to know nobody had been inside the home.

“We were just trying to make sure everybody was OK,” Maldonado said. “I know I got a grandma and I got a mom.

“And I know I would really appreciate it if somebody did that for them.”

Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle The Houston Fire Department received a report of a house explosion at approximately 10 a.m. Friday. The residents of the house at North Bryan and Canal were not at home when the blast occurred, and there were no serious injuries reported.

Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle Officials cordon off the scene of a house explosion Friday in the Second Ward. Investigators suspect a gas leak was the cause of the explosion that shook up the neighbors.