Pennsylvania nursing home explosion kills at least 2, governor says : NPR

BRISTOL, Pa. — A massive explosion Tuesday at a nursing home just outside Philadelphia killed at least two people, collapsing part of the building, setting it on fire and trapping people inside, authorities said.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said at a news conference several hours after the explosion that at least two people were killed after emergency responders evacuated residents and staff despite flames and the heavy smell of gas.

Fire officials said they were in “rescue mode” five hours later, with responders still digging by hand and using sniffer dogs and sonar to locate possible victims.

The explosion occurred at the Bristol Health and Rehab Center in Bristol Township while a utility crew was on site looking for a gas leak.

Plumes of black smoke were billowing from the nursing home as emergency responders, fire trucks and ambulances, along with earthmoving equipment, arrived from across the region.

Authorities did not identify the dead and did not give a total number of those injured after residents and staff were taken to hospitals.

Shapiro asked his fellow Pennsylvanians to pray “for this community, for those who are still missing, for those who are injured, and for the families who are going to celebrate Christmas with an empty chair at their table.”

City Fire Chief Kevin Dippolito said at a news conference Tuesday evening that five people were still missing, but he cautioned that some may have left the scene with family members.

Dippolito described a chaotic rescue where firefighters found people trapped in staircases and elevator shafts, and evacuated residents from the burning building through windows and doors.

They handed the patients over to police officers waiting outside, including one “who literally threw two people over his shoulders,” Dippolito said. “It was nothing short of extraordinary.”

Bucks County emergency management officials said they received reports of the explosion at about 2:17 p.m. and said a portion of the building had collapsed.

Willie Tye, who lives about a block away, said he was sitting at home watching a basketball game on TV when he heard a “loud kaboom.”

“I thought a plane or something had fallen on my house,” Ty said.

He got up to look and saw that “everywhere was on fire” and people were running from the building. He said, it seems that the explosion may have occurred in the kitchen area of ​​the nursing home. Ty said that some people living or working there could not come out.

“Just gotta keep praying for them,” Ty said.

Shapiro said it was preliminary to conclude that a gas leak caused the explosion.

The local gas utility, PECO, said its crews responded to reports of a gas smell at the nursing home just after 2 p.m.

“While crews were on site, an explosion occurred at the facility. PECO crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents,” the utility said in a statement.

Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission press secretary Nils Hagen-Fredrickson said safety division investigators were headed to the scene. He said the finding that the explosion was caused by a gas leak would not be confirmed until his agency conducted a closer investigation of the scene.

Musulin Watson, who said she was a certified nursing assistant at the facility, told WPVI-TV/ABC 6 that, over the weekend, she and others there smelled gas, but “there was no heat in the room, so we didn’t think it was anything.”

The 174-bed nursing home is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Philadelphia. Its owner, Saber Healthcare Group, said it was working with local emergency officials. The facility was until recently known as Silver Lake Healthcare Center.

The latest state inspection report for the facility was in October and the Pennsylvania Department of Health found it was not in compliance with several state regulations.

The inspection report said the facility failed to provide an accurate set of floor plans and properly maintain several staircases, including storing several paint buckets and a bed frame under the landing.

It also says the facility failed to maintain portable fire extinguishers on one of three levels and failed to provide required “smoke barrier partitions”, which are designed to contain smoke on two floors. It also said it did not properly store oxygen cylinders on two of the three floors.

According to Medicare.gov, the facility underwent a standard fire safety inspection in September 2024, during which no citations were issued. But Medicare’s overall rating of the facility is listed as “well below average”, with a particularly poor rating for health inspections.