An explosion at a nursing home just outside Philadelphia collapsed part of the building and left people injured and trapped inside, authorities said. A plume of black smoke rose from Silver Lake Healthcare Center in Bristol Township, around 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia, as emergency responders from across the region gathered there. Bucks County emergency management officials reported that there were injuries, but had yet to say whether there were any fatalities, the AP reports.
County officials said they received the report of an explosion at approximately 2:17pm and said a portion of the building was reported to have collapsed. Ruth Miller, a Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency spokesperson, said her agency had been informed that people were trapped inside. "I saw smoke and I saw car after car after car was a fire truck or ambulance from all over the city, from all over," said state Rep. Tina Davis, whose district includes the facility and approached the scene in her car.
- The cause of the explosion was unclear. Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, press secretary at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, said first responders and emergency management officials were describing it as a gas explosion, but that won't be confirmed until his agency can examine the scene up close.
- A nurse who works at the facility tells NBC10 that there are normally 50 people at a time in the building where the explosion happened. She says residents range in age from 50 to 95.
- According to Medicare.gov, the 174-bed facility underwent a standard fire safety inspection in September 2024, during which no citations were issued. But Medicare's overall rating of the facility is listed as "much below average," with poor ratings for health inspections in particular.
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