The victims were identified as David Mitchell Jr. and Helen Mitchell, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
Aerial images from the scene in Crescent Township in the northwest Pittsburgh suburbs showed smoking ruins with the structure reduced to rubble and some large pieces lodged in trees above. Allegheny County emergency dispatchers said the blast was reported shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday.
The blast was “severe, absolutely extreme,” and “You could feel it in your chest,” said Chief Andrew Tomer of the Crescent Township fire department. It was heard and felt throughout Crescent and nearby townships and even across the river. Tomer and others at the fire department immediately saw “a column of white smoke up in the air followed by a thick column of black smoke,” he said.
The explosion “completely leveled” the home, with arriving units reporting “fire throughout the foundation” and fire along the hillside, Tomer said. The blast also damaged at least two other homes, he said. A private gas well and two propane tanks on the scene were secured, he said.
A man and woman were found dead at the scene, he said. The county medical examiner’s office will confirm their identities and determine the cause and manner of death.
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