Eight Pr. George's Firefighters Injured In Strip Mall Explosion

The largest gas explosion in recent years in the capital region destroyed part of an aging Forestville strip mall yesterday afternoon, injuring eight firefighters and a Washington Gas employee minutes after almost 50 people were evacuated because of a possible gas leak, authorities said.

All employees from the six gutted storefronts in the Penn Mar Shopping Center at Pennsylvania Avenue and Donnell Drive -- including a medical office and two restaurants -- had been accounted for last night, and police said no one was reported missing.

Video of the blast captured by a camera mounted on a Prince George's County firetruck made clear how remarkable that was: Firefighters approaching the mall were blown off their feet as a fireball ripped through the walls of a vacant storefront. The blast lifted the roof off the mall and sent a wave of glass and debris raining down on rescue workers as far as 70 feet into the parking lot.

"I thought a bomb had dropped on the building," said Felicia Price, who was more than a football field away, working in a fabric store, when she felt the impact.

The fire caused an estimated $2.5 million in damage. Investigators ruled out suspicious causes and said a gas leak might have occurred in the vacant storefront, according to Mark Brady, spokesman for Prince George's Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department. Employees in nearby businesses said the space has been under renovation.

Shortly before 1 p.m., employees at the Forestville Pregnancy Center, a nonprofit crisis pregnancy counseling center affiliated with Maryland Right to Life, called 911 to report that they smelled gas.

Patrons at a nearby Ledo Pizza had left by then because the power had gone out, said owner Mohammed Siddique. He said firefighters ordered him and the workers from his restaurant, a nearby nail salon, a Subway and the pregnancy center to retreat several hundred feet from the strip mall.

Firefighters said they were trying to vent the gas fumes from the vacant space to reduce the likelihood of an explosion when the blast occurred.

"I heard a whoosh," Battalion Chief Kenneth McSwain said. "It's a sound I've only ever heard in training tapes, but I knew immediately what it was."

Two firefighters suffered second-degree burns to their faces and hands; all had scrapes and cuts from flying glass, Brady said. The two firefighters with second-degree burns remained hospitalized last night.

The cinderblock rear wall of the strip mall was flattened, exposing restroom stalls, storage rooms and heating and cooling equipment. Water pipes, wiring and insulation dangled from the partially collapsed ceiling above.

"I've lost everything, but I can say I'm lucky to be alive," Siddique said.

Vernon Herron, the county's director of public safety, who toured the site, said, "We're just very fortunate no one was more seriously injured."

Washington Gas officials were attempting to determine the origin of the leak, spokesman Eric Grant said. Gas service to the Penn Mar Shopping Center will remain turned off until fire officials deem it safe, he said.

Staff writer Clarence Williams contributed to this report.