‘Fell to the floor’: Chief recalls Salisbury house explosion with firefighters still inside

SALISBURY, N.C. — An explosion at a home in Salisbury last month is still fresh on the minds of the firefighters who were inside during the blast.

Channel 9’s Dave Faherty was on scene at the fire on Laurel Street, and he spoke with the commander in charge about what he witnessed that day.

Chopper 9 Skyzoom caught video of the home. When Salisbury firefighters arrived, flames were coming from the back side of the building.

Division Chief Shawn McBride was the incident commander during the blaze. He saw and felt the explosion with firefighters who had gone inside to push back the flames and look for possible victims.

“The house lifted off the foundation. The roof came up three to four feet off the foundation itself,” McBride told Faherty. “We had three guys on the roof itself. When the explosion happened, the guys in the house went up and then fell to the floor.”

When the explosion happened, there were also firefighters outside the home who were struck by bricks that went flying across the yard as the house shook. McBride immediately called for more first responders to help with the injuries, which included concussions and cuts.

One firefighter told McBride she was lifted off her feet to the ceiling and then fell back to the ground with debris coming down on top of her.

“At that moment, I wanted to jump out of the vehicle and run inside the house and pull my people out of the house,” McBride said.

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Firefighters say prior to the explosion, they did shut off a natural gas line running to the home. They believe the fire started in an enclosed garage out back.

“The fire was nearly under control status and we had some sort of explosion fueled by yet undetermined gas in the crawl space, and the house blew up,“ said Chief Robert Parnell with the Salisbury Fire Department.

Twelve firefighters were hospitalized, and one of them had to stay overnight. Some firefighters are still on light duty as they continue to recover.

Two family members also went to the hospital after the fire and explosion. We’ve asked officials how they’re doing.

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