The explosion was caused by a ruptured gas line.
The duplex at 367-369 Wayne Drive exploded about 2 p.m. Saturday while workers were digging on the property, Fairborn Fire Marshal Carl Day said. The workers were using a backhoe to dig for a water line when the gas line was struck, authorities said.
The explosion reduced the building to rubble and left several victims injured in the yard, including an infant, witnesses said.
Two adults were taken to Miami Valley Hospital and three children to Children’s Medical Center, Day said. Two of the children are in fair condition and the other was taken to Shriner's Hospital for Children in Cincinnati.
Cybil Poole, wholives nearby, said she was sitting in her home when she felt the explosion.
Poole, whose shirt was covered in blood, said she found a baby among injured people lying in the yard, some of whom she said were still on fire. She said she gave the infant, who was was bloodied, burned and covered in glass, to the child’s mother before paramedics arrived.
“It was horrible. It was like a movie scene,” she said. “You see this huge fireball and you see people come out of it on fire.”
Six houses surrounding the duplex were evacuated and Vectren Energy of Ohio workers were called to the scene to deal with what Day called “an active gas leak.” Two women who lived in one side of the duplex were not home at the time of the explosion.
Neighbor James Pierson rushed toward the burning duplex after the explosion.
“There was still fire 30 feet in the air and I saw a boy, maybe 15 years old, in the yard. His shirt was on fire and his jeans,” Pierson said. “I tried to put out the fire with my coat. Soon we got it out and I told him 'Let’s get away from here.’ He kept saying, 'Where’s my dad?’ 'Where’s my dad?’”
Another neighbor Paula Corelli said she was almost hit by a flying piece of wood from the explosion, then saw two adults running down her sidewalk with three badly injured children in their arms.
“I don’t know if they were burned, because they were too bloody,” she said. “From what I understand, there was a lot of glass involved.”
Corelli said she offered to take the children while the adults — at least one of whom was a parent — returned to the scene half a block away.
“Medics told me to keep them awake because they had head injuries so we sang to them, me and another woman. And we didn’t let them look back,” Corelli said. “It was still on fire and there was a lot of blood.”
Duplexes on both sides of the exploded duplex suffered broken windows and other damage. One of the buildings had a wall blown out, and debris could be seen a block away. The American Red Cross is providing food, shelter and clothing to the people whose homes were damaged or destroyed.
Dispatchers for Fairborn police and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office said authorities from multiple jurisdictions responded to the scene. The state fire marshal’s office also is investigating.
Chase Kelley, spokeswoman for the Evansville, Ind.-based Vectren, flew into town from Evansville to join a Vectren supervisor already at the scene.
“Our focus has been making sure the scene is safe and making sure the victims are safe,” she said by phone. “In terms of cause, it’s way too early to tell.”
Kelley said the fire department, Vectren and utility commission will likely do their own investigations to determine what happened.
On Saturday night, Day said he did not know if the independent contractor doing the digging had applied for permits or checked to see where the gas lines were before starting the work. The name of the company was unavailable.