Assessment: Blast displaces hundreds

Los Angeles Times

A natural-gas explosion in Springfield, Mass., that blew up a strip club Friday evening also damaged 42 other buildings and displaced hundreds of people, early assessments of the damage show.

In a news conference Saturday afternoon, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said the city had begun offering housing assistance to residents who hadn’t been able to return to their apartments because their buildings had been damaged or destroyed.

The explosion, which occurred at 5:25 p.m. at Scores Gentlemen’s Club in downtown Springfield, blew out windows for three blocks and injured 19 people, including a dozen firefighters at the scene.

No fatalities have been reported and all the firefighters have been treated and released from the hospital.

Sarno told a local TV station it was a “miracle on Worthington Street” that no one was killed.

Most of the others injured were gas and city utility workers who were in the area responding to a report of a gas leak.

A 15-block area around the blast site was cordoned off Saturday. City crews were going building to building checking for damage, and Columbia Gas of Massachusetts workers were checking for leaks.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.