Dallas firefighters were preparing evacuation moments before deadly apartment blast, chief says

DALLAS — Firefighters responding to reports of a gas leak at a Dallas apartment complex had already arrived and were preparing to evacuate residents when the building exploded in a massive fireball, killing three people and injuring several more, the city's fire chief said Friday.

Dallas Fire-Rescue Chief Justin Ball said the first group of four firefighters arrived within two minutes of the call reporting the gas leak on Thursday.

“Right before they were going to enter and evacuate, it exploded,” Ball said.

Firefighters had been on scene for about 10 minutes, conducting necessary safety protocols that include blocking off the street, finding the leak, donning protective gear and setting up a water supply, he said, describing their actions as “heroics.”

“No time was wasted,” Ball insisted. “That takes time to put all the safety protocols in place. I would be criticizing them if they had not done that.”

The explosion shook nearby homes and the resulting inferno razed the two-story complex. A child and two other people were killed and at least five people were injured and sent to hospitals. No firefighters were injured, Ball said.

The building's 22 units were occupied by 19 families. Ball said authorities searched the charred wreckage late into Thursday night and early Friday morning with drones, cadaver dogs and specialized urban rescue teams, and did not expect to find any more victims.

“There is nobody unaccounted for or we’d still be searching,” Ball said. “We've had no one come to us and say, ‘Our family member is missing.’”

Several blocks of streets around the explosion site were still closed off by police cars and police tape Friday. The smell of smoke lingered over the area as law enforcement officials and workers in bright yellow vests circled the rubble of what was once the apartment building.

The cause of the gas leak before the explosion is still unknown.

The National Transportation Safety Board said a team of eight investigators arrived Friday. The agency investigates gas pipeline accidents, and said initial reports indicated a contractor had damaged an underground gas pipeline.

Atmos Energy, a natural gas provider in the area, said service to the neighborhood remained shut off, and company officials were working with investigators on-site.

An attorney for the apartment owner said the building was being sold to a buyer who planned to build a new housing unit. He said an engineering firm hired by that company struck the gas line while doing soil testing.

“The owner is shocked by this outcome and likewise mourns this outcome,” attorney Geoff Henley said.

Phone and email messages left with an engineering company that the complex’s owner said was doing soil testing were not immediately returned.

Sherry Woods, who lives in an apartment across an alleyway from the fire site, said Friday she was sitting outside her front door when she and her boyfriend smelled what they believed to be gas.

Moments later, the explosion nearly knocked her down.

“All you heard was ‘boom.’ I shook like something was hitting me. It was scary to hear something like that. I felt the building shake,” Woods said.

Trish Thompson surveyed the site from across a grassy field Friday morning and could see the gap on the block where the apartment complex stood just 24-hours earlier.

Thompson, who lives nearby, described hearing a “loud rumble, something more like a train to me” and seeing smoke and fire.

“Pray for them,” Thompson said.

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• Associated Press journalist Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed.