Woman dies, man badly burned in explosion that levels house near Annapolis

A woman has died and a man was badly burned in a home explosion just outside Annapolis on Wednesday afternoon, fire officials said.

First responders were called to the 1100 block of Green Holly Drive, a residential neighborhood on the Broadneck Peninsula, at 12:17 p.m. Wednesday, Anne Arundel County Fire Department spokesperson Jennifer Macallair told The Banner.

Larry Schultz, an assistant fire chief, told reporters that crews arrived three minutes later to find the home blown to pieces and debris strewn throughout the street.

Authorities said a man and a woman were at the home when the explosion happened. Neighbors had pulled the woman from the house, and she was in cardiac arrest. Medics administered aid until she died.

The man was located inside the home. Schultz said he “suffered some significant burns and was lifted by air” to the John Hopkins Burn Center at Bayview. Neighbors had observed him working outside prior to the blast.

The names of the victims were not immediately released.

According to Schultz, the homeowner had received a propane delivery just one hour before the explosion. He couldn’t definitively say the propane caused the explosion, but fire officials were investigating it.

When propane explodes, it doesn’t necessarily cause visible flames but produces high heat that can burn someone exposed to it.

Officials have not located the propane tank and were using Ring cameras to try to identify the vendor, Schultz said.

Firefighters and other officials were still on scene Wednesday working to secure the scene and search for any other people in the home.

Neighbors living next to the home and across the street were evacuated. Their homes sustained minimal damage, but shards of glass and pieces of wood littered their front yards and the street.

Authorities had sent for a special dog from the District of Columbia fire department to help determine whether anyone else was inside the structure.

Schultz asked nearby residents to avoid the scene.

“We are still having readings of propane in that structure, so we don’t want anybody down there in that area,” he said.

Crews visited other homes to make sure there wasn’t a larger issue and all were free of propane gas and other issues, Schultz said.

He said many homes in the county are supplied by natural gas but some rely on propane or a combination of both.

Crews also treated a police officer with a leg injury and a neighbor suffering from exhaustion.

“Kudos to the neighbors that were outside and came to help, to assist the first person,” Schultz said. He also praised firefighters for aiding the second victim out of an unstable structure amid uncontrolled gas issues.

Some 55 people responded to the incident, including crews from the city of Annapolis and the Naval Academy.

Aerial footage showed a giant pile of wood, clothes and chairs at the explosion site.

Anne Arundel Police temporarily closed Green Holly Drive

This is at least the second explosion at an Annapolis-area home this summer.

In June, a 77-year-old man was injured in a shed explosion in the 3000 block of Friends Road. Fire officials said the man had been mixing chemicals.

This article will be updated.