A man and woman were found dead in the rubble of a New Jersey home that exploded early Sunday, authorities said.
Neighbors blocks away were jolted awake by the 2 a.m. blast, which sounded “like a bomb went off,” local resident Suzanne Pinto told WCAU-TV.
Jimmy Gibson, who lives nearby, described a “real loud boom” that ignited the home immediately. The structure was quickly engulfed in flames, all of it caught on surveillance video.
“I was terrified, absolutely terrified,” Pinto told WCAU. “I never heard an explosion like that in my life, and it just was, the house was, basically, burning to the ground very, very quickly.”
Multiple 911 calls poured in at about 2:02 a.m. Sunday, the Washington Township Police Department said in a statement. Officers arrived to find that the home, on a street named Tranquility Court, was “fully engulfed in flames and appeared to have been heavily damaged by an apparent explosion,” the department said.
The Washington Township Fire Department was right behind them, arriving within minutes to extinguish the blaze. Police did not mention the victims in their statement but told WCAU that the bodies of a man and a woman had been removed from the home.
Washington Township Police Department
A man and woman were found dead in the rubble of a New Jersey home that exploded early Sunday. (Washington Township Police Department)
The fire was intense enough to melt half the siding off the house next door, its occupants told KYW-TV. Neighbor Jill Rauf told WPVI-TV that she and her husband rushed outside with their dog.
The Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office told KYW that a criminal investigation was underway, although it appeared to be an isolated incident.
“This remains an active and ongoing investigation being led jointly by the Washington Township Police Department’s Detective Bureau, Washington Township Fire Investigators, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety,” police said in their statement.
Police said the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office would be the source of any further updates and details “as they become available and appropriate to share.”
