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Neighbors 'Grateful' To Still Be Alive After Explosion Demolishes Lochearn Home

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- For the second time in two days, an explosion destroyed a Baltimore County home.

In Tuesday's explosion, several other homes were also damaged by the blast, but neighbors say more than anything, they are grateful no one was injured.

We're lucky to be alive. Just about every homeowner WJZ had a chance to speak with said that after a house explosion in the 7400 block of Remoor Rd. Tuesday afternoon.

Many of them are still unsure on the full extent of the damage done to their homes, though a lot of them are cautiously optimistic.

For the second time in as many days, there were emergency calls in Baltimore County made in response to a house explosion.

"Some calls saying the house blew up and that other houses adjacent to it are destroyed," can be heard on one radio call.

Chopper 13 was over Remoor Rd. after the blast, revealing a neighborhood heavily damaged by the explosion.

The damage Tuesday was a significant departure from what we saw during Monday's explosion in the Baltimore Highlands, where the damage was limited to the one house where the explosion occurred.

"They did let me peek at it. From what I could see, there is nothing left," Janet Williams said.

Williams lives in the home right next to the house where the blast occurred.

She says her house was engulfed in flames, and also took pictures of what remains.

[Reporter: "Has the reality really gripped you yet of what occurred here today?] "Probably not, but I'm just grateful I'm alive and that no one else was injured," she said.

A number of the neighbors are being told that they will not be able to return to their homes anytime soon.

"Right now, we're praying that the damage will not be a lot, and we're all thankful for the fact that nobody was home at the time of the blast because somebody would have been hurt," said Francis Owusuberochie, whose home was damaged.

That goes double for Robert Fisher, who was outside his home when the explosion took place.

"I heard the tremendous explosion," he said. "It seems like it was a preliminary explosion, then it was the actual explosion. In other words, boom and then bam!"

Fisher says without thinking, he rushed over to check on his neighbors.

While Fisher, like many impacted homeowners, are now temporarily homeless, they aren't angry or upset.

Many are turning to the age old saying: Home is where the heart is.

Timing really seems to have been a factor for many homeowners, as many of them say they were on their way home when the blast occurred.

The Red Cross has been at the scene helping those displaced families.

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