Four people were hurt and countless others were left shaken when an explosion occurred at a Dunwoody apartment complex on Sunday, according to police.
The front side of the building at the Arrive Perimeter complex on Asbury Square had “a tremendous amount of structural damage” from the apparent blast, DeKalb County Deputy Fire Chief Melvin Carter told reporters at the scene.
Authorities received calls reporting an explosion just before 1:30 p.m., Dunwoody police said.
While there were reports of gas fumes at the complex, authorities said they have not determined the cause of the explosion.
The blast was so powerful that it blew apart a building and damaged surrounding buildings, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Neighbors within a half-mile or so of the incident took to social media saying they heard the boom and even felt a rattle like an earthquake. Arrive Perimeter is about a mile northeast of Perimeter Mall.
Eboni Thornton told Channel 2 Action News that she was in a moving truck outside the building when it felt like something fell on top of the vehicle and the whole vehicle shook.
“The leasing office was collapsed on the left side, the double doors were blown out and I could hear a lady screaming her head off,” Thornton said.
Dozens of firefighters were on the scene, Carter said in his afternoon update from the apartment complex.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Police evacuated residents while fire crews on the scene began searching the areas of the building that were structurally safe, being cautious to avoid a secondary collapse, authorities said. DeKalb Fire said they had received reports of entrapments, but no residents were trapped inside of the building during the incident. All units affected by the blast had been searched by 6 p.m. and no residents were left unaccounted for, authorities said.
Four people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, according to reports.
Dunwoody police said they are working with DeKalb County Fire Rescue and the Sandy Springs Fire Department to determine the cause of the incident. In a statement, Atlanta Gas Light confirmed it had crews on-site assisting in the investigation.
“At present, natural gas has been turned off to the locations directly impacted by the incident, and there are no additional service outages,” the company said in a 6 p.m. update. “Atlanta Gas Light crews remain on site assisting first responders. The safety of our customers and employees is Atlanta Gas Light’s No. 1 value, and our thoughts remain with those impacted.”
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
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