2 dead, 20 hospitalized after explosion at Pennsylvania nursing home
BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. -- Two people are dead after an apparent gas explosion collapsed part of a nursing home in the suburbs of Philadelphia on Tuesday afternoon.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro confirmed two deaths at a news conference Tuesday evening.
Police initially said a third person had died but later clarified that one of the original victims was resuscitated at a local hospital.
Rescuers believe everyone has now been accounted for, but they are still searching.
Fire officials said they were in "rescue mode" five hours later, with responders still digging by hand and using search dogs, earth-moving equipment and sonar to locate potential victims.
Video from the Action Cam showed flames erupting from the building. Debris could be seen scattered around the area.
ABC Philadelphia affiliate WPVI has also learned that 20 people were sent to various hospitals. Their conditions are unknown.
It happened around 2:15 p.m. at the Bristol Health and Rehab Center, also known as Silver Lake Nursing Home, on the 900 block of Tower Road in Bristol Township.
PECO confirms crews responded around 2 p.m. after getting reports of a gas odor.
The explosion happened at Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bristol Township, just as a utility crew had been on site looking for a gas leak.
"PECO crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents," the utility said in a statement.
Investigators from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission's went to the scene. Finding that the explosion was caused by a gas leak won't be confirmed until the agency can examine the scene, a utility commission spokesperson said.
Authorities did not identify those who died and did not know the total number of those injured after residents and employees were evacuated to a number of different hospitals.
Governor Josh Shapiro asked his fellow Pennsylvanians to take a moment to pray "for this community, for those who are still missing, for those who are injured, and for those families who are about to celebrate Christmas with an empty chair at their table."
The town's fire chief, Kevin Dippolito, said at the Tuesday evening news conference that there were five people still unaccounted for, but he cautioned that some may have left the scene with family members.
Dippolito described a chaotic rescue where firefighters found people stuck in stairwells and elevator shafts, and pulled residents out of the fiery building through windows and doors. Two people were rescued from a collapsed section of building, he said.
Firefighters handed off patients to waiting police officers outside, including one "who literally threw two people over his shoulders," Dippolito said. "It was nothing short of extraordinary." A second explosion erupted during the rescue, he said.
Willie Tye, who lives about a block away, said he was sitting at home watching a basketball game on TV when he heard a "loud kaboom."
"I thought an airplane or something came and fell on my house," Tye said.
He got up to go look and saw "fire everywhere" and people escaping the building. "Just got to keep praying for them," Tye said.
Shapiro said a finding that the gas leak caused the explosion was preliminary.
One woman who works at the facility said she has been trying to contact co-workers, but no one is answering their phones. That woman also told Action News that she flagged a gas smell over the weekend.
The 174-bed nursing home is about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia. It is newly affiliated with Saber Healthcare Group and had been known until recently as Silver Lake Healthcare Center.
In a statement, Saber called the explosion "devastating." It said facility personnel had promptly reported a gas smell to PECO before the explosion and that it was working with authorities to ensure the safety and well-being of staff, residents and the community.
The latest state inspection report for the facility was in October and the Pennsylvania Department of Health found that it was not in compliance with several state regulations.
The inspection report said the facility failed to provide an accurate set of floor plans and to properly maintain several stairways, including storing multiple paint buckets and a bed frame under landings.
It also said the facility failed to maintain portable fire extinguishers on one of the three levels and failed to provide the required "smoke barrier partitions," which are designed to contain smoke on two floors. It also said it didn't properly store oxygen cylinders on two of three floors.
According to Medicare.gov, the facility underwent a standard fire safety inspection in September 2024, during which no citations were issued. But Medicare's overall rating of the facility is listed as "much below average," with poor ratings for health inspections in particular.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
