Two people were killed Tuesday morning in a house explosion in Crescent, authorities said.

The fatalities were confirmed by Crescent Fire Chief Andrew Tomer.

He did not identify the adult victims but said one was a man and the other a woman. He added that authorities had been in contact with the victims’ family.

First responders were dispatched at 8:54 a.m. for reports of a house explosion at 1410 Riverview Road, according to audio of the 911 transmission.

When they arrived eight minutes later, they found a large fire “from a home that had clearly exploded,” Abigail Gardner, a county spokeswoman, said.

“It was complete devastation when we arrived on the scene,” Tomer said during a media briefing at the Crescent municipal building on Spring Run Road. “One home, completely leveled.”

Two other homes were damaged, Tomer said.

The blast, which caused a fire on a nearby hillside, could be heard on the other side of the Ohio River, Tomer said.

“We all felt and heard the explosion instantly,” Tomer said. “You felt it in your chest.”

Authorities said there was a private natural gas well on the property and propane tanks at the home.

Property records show the house was owned by the David L. Mitchell Jr. and Helen H. Mitchell Living Trust. The single-level log cabin was built in 2009 and sat on 2.1 acres, according to Allegheny County tax assessment records.

Tomer would not speculate whether the explosion might be connected to the well or tanks.

George Chemsak lives in the first house on Riverview Road and was home at the time of the explosion.

“It really shook me up,” he said. “I never experienced a percussion, an explosion, like that.”

He called it incredible.

“It didn’t just boom. It went for five seconds,” he said. “I thought a tree fell on our house.”

When Chemsak went outside, he saw smoke and debris falling.

He called 911, and once he got through, called his neighbor. They didn’t know if a plane crashed or something else.

Then he walked up the 20-foot wide, wooded, dead-end road that’s home to about a dozen houses.

“There was debris everywhere. Wood, furniture pieces in the trees.”

The fire didn’t last long, Chemsak said, because there wasn’t much left to burn.

The beautiful home he’d visited in years past, he said, was leveled.

“There was nothing left. It was a log home — beautiful — it was just gone.”

The scene is on a narrow road, and officials asked the public to stay clear to allow room for emergency crews to have access, Gardner said.

The Allegheny County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating.

Lee Gierczynski said Columbia Gas crews responded to the scene and said that while the utility did not serve the house that exploded, its crews remain on the scene providing assistance.

Allegheny County Emergency Services is assisting first responders in Crescent Township following a house explosion on the 1400 block of Riverview Road. This remains an active incident. The scene is in a remote location and we’re asking everyone to avoid the area in order to allow… pic.twitter.com/58WZuuPDow

— Allegheny County (@Allegheny_Co) March 12, 2024

Cort Matey, who lives on Riverview Road, said he wasn’t home at the time of the explosion. No one in his household was harmed, and they are being kept away.

“It’s debris everywhere,” he said. “We’re not allowed to get even close.”

Patti Kastriba lives two doors down from the house that exploded. She was across the river babysitting at the time, but her fiance was home.

“We’re all fine,” she said.

Her fiancé told her that the explosion knocked pictures off their walls and moved a heavy desk several inches.

Katriba has lived there for 60 years and said there are about 15 houses on the street.

She described the house that exploded as a single-story log cabin.

Patty Christian, who is in Florida, got a call from her husband Tuesday morning about the explosion.

They own a building on Riverview Road they use for his business.

A co-worker was there and said he felt the building starting to shake and then saw smoke.

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