Firefighters from numerous communities responded to a massive, fast-moving fire at a home in Stoughton, Massachusetts, after neighbors reported hearing explosions in the area on Saturday afternoon.
The Stoughton Fire Department said it was responding to another fire in town, on Wheeler Circle, when it got the call for the Central Street blaze.
Crews raced over to Central Street and were faced with advanced fire conditions, the fire department said, and firefighters were forced to fight the flames from the outside due to its intensity, focusing on preventing the fire from extending to other buildings in the area.
Stoughton firefighters were assisted on scene by numerous fire departments, including Canton, Sharon, Easton, Avon, Brockton, Randolph, Holbrook, Dedham, Braintree, Westwood, and Foxborough.
Get Boston local news, weather forecasts, lifestyle and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Boston’s newsletters.
Crews remained on scene for several hours at the house, which is near the Canton and Sharon town lines.
No injuries were reported, according to Stoughton Fire, and all residents were accounted for. The family of four was not home at the time, the Salvation Army's Emergency Disaster Services said.
Local
In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston Area.
Fire officials tell NBC10 Boston the cause of the fire could be related to some oxygen tanks that were found inside but an investigation into the cause is ongoing.
"The way this building went up so quickly, it was astounding how fast this fire moved," Deputy Fire Chief James Brackett said on scene. "And I can only say it probably was from those oxygen tanks cooking off and fueling the intensity of that fire."
Brackett said the oxygen tanks belonged to a former resident who needed them for medical reasons. It was not immediately clear why they were still inside the home if there were new tenants.
Pictures shared by the fire department on social media show thick plumes of black smoke billowing into the clear blue sky. Flames had also engulfed a vehicle that could be seen parked in the driveway.
Video taken after the blaze had been extinguished showed the charred vehicle and what little was left of the house siding and frame. Fire officials on scene confirmed the home is a total loss.
Phil Pavadore who lives next-door to the now-destroyed home told NBC10 Boston that it was around 2:40 p.m. when he heard a "deafening-loud explosion" while sitting in his living room with family.
"It shook my house very violently, I can't explain it. Like everything that had the potential to rattle, rattled," he said.
"I quickly went outside because I thought a tree might have fallen on my house, and when I went outside, I saw smoke pouring from the neighbor's house and I started to see some flames so I ran back in, grabbed my kid, my kid was actually napping, ran down and grabbed him, and told my family including my aunt's nurse who was there at the time, that we gotta get out immediately," Pavadore added. "So I hopped in my car and came to the neighboring plaza out back because I knew it was safe, and I've just kind of been here since."
"When I was putting my own kid in the car, I was in the driveway, and I just saw the shower of sparks because the electrical panel exploded, too," he continued.
Firefighters say they had to wait for National Grid after the electrical panel fell onto the car that was parked near the home.
"Took a little while for National Grid to get here, once they did, they secured the electrical power, we were able to extinguish the car fire," a fire official said.
A woman who lives in the area shared video on Twitter, saying the house behind her street exploded shortly before 3 p.m.
"Felt the explosion shake the ground and can feel the heat," Hayley McManus wrote.
Another Twitter user confirmed hearing an explosion from Cobbs Corner, the Village Shoppes of Canton.
"I heard a loud 'boom' and light shake through the ground...saw black smoke and even a bit of ash. I could just make out flames from my car when leaving," the person replied to McManus. "Hope everyone is okay."
Luckily, no one was home at the time of the explosion and fire, and no one was hurt.
An investigation into the fire's cause remains ongoing.
