Gaithersburg condo blast: 1 still hospitalized; officials still trying to contact owner of 1 unit

A day after an explosion and fire tore through the Potomac Oaks Condominium building in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Wednesday morning, officials said they are still trying to make contact with the owner of one unit.

Fire Chief Scott Goldstein told reporters Thursday that officials do not know how many people are unaccounted for, if any.

They have not been able to contact the person listed in building records as the owner of the unit — which is located in one of the buildings that partially collapsed — and don’t know whether anyone else was there at the time of the blast, Goldstein said. It’s common for condo owners to lease their units to others.

Dogs trained to detect people and human remains combed through the debris in areas where it was safe to do so on Wednesday, the fire chief said, and did not alert in any area.

Officials slightly revised the count of those hurt, saying a total of 14 people were injured. Of the 10 people hospitalized, two adults were initially listed in critical condition.

However, as of Thursday morning, everyone has been released from the hospital, except for one man, whose condition has been upgraded to stable, Goldstein said.

There is still no word on the cause of the explosion.

The fire chief said responding firefighters encountered a gas-fed fire in the basement of one of the units following the blast, but he stressed it’s too soon to say that’s what caused the blast.

“We can’t say that this was a gas explosion or a gas leak,” Goldstein said, adding, “It is extraordinarily too early for us to say that that was the initial event that created the emergency that we have here.”

The blast happened about 8:40 a.m. Wednesday in a row of garden-style condos in the 800 block of Quince Orchard Boulevard. Neighbors and residents reported hearing a massive boom and seeing debris, heavy smoke and flames.

Two buildings — 826 and 828 Quince Orchard Blvd. — sustained significant damage and partially collapsed. Two other buildings, connected to those two, were initially evacuated over concerns they have structural damage.

The complex was built in 1967, the fire chief said, and is constructed of large, heavy concrete slabs, which pancaked in the explosion.

Residents are being provided assistance at the Activity Center at Bohrer Park, across from Gaithersburg High School. A total of 12 families — 34 people — checked in with the shelter on Wednesday, but the number was expected to grow.

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