Gas Explosion

A gas explosion rocked an Oakland Mills apartment building yesterday morning, triggering a blaze that left at least six families homeless.The fire slightly injured two people and caused property damage of at least $400,000, fire officials said."

A two-alarm fire early today destroyed a vacant apartment building in the Cecil county town of Perryville.State Deputy Fire Marshal Robert Thomas said the fire, which caused an estimated $150,000 damage, was intentionally set."The building was being renovated and no one was living there at the time," Mr. Thomas said.The fire was reported about 1:30 a.m. at the three-story, frame building that occupies 301 to 317 Broad St.Mr. Thomas said 45 firefighters from Cecil and Harford counties battled the fire.

Two days after it nearly leveled a home and killed Martha Budzynski, the explosion, believed caused by a propane leak, still echoes through the Pasadena neighborhood."

PERRYVILLE -- Scattered in the 10-foot mound of rubble on Broad Street, a narrow strip in this small Cecil County town, lay a multitude of items charred by the raging fire after a propane gas explosion Saturday morning.They included a scorched air conditioner, a woman's sweater, a collection of Harlequin Romance novels, a sofa and any number of other possessions and household items -- only a few days ago things that provided the comforts of everyday living for the 100 people left homeless by the blaze but now only burned and ruined debris.

Stephen A. Renehan of Irvington still jumps when he hears a car backfire, the legacy of a day last month when a house blew up 17 doors away, knocking him to the ground.In the weeks after the explosion, which killed the elderly woman who lived in the house, fears grew in the neighborhood that natural gas could leak in other homes. Investigators said the blast probably was caused by an appliance left on or by a leak, but they couldn't be sure because the explosion destroyed the evidence.Last weekend, the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. responded by inspecting 136 homes and telling residents how to minimize the potential dangers.

Investigators seeking to pinpoint the cause of a natural gas explosion Monday that killed an elderly Irvington woman focused their attention yesterday on the gas stove that was found on top of her when rescue workers dug her body from the rubble."