Authorities are investigating the cause of the explosion that damaged an apartment building in Van Nuys on Saturday night.
The Los Angeles Fire Department was alerted at 5:38 p.m. to the explosion in the 7300 block of Woodman Street, according to Connor Thompson, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Thompson said the damage was limited to one housing unit, the occupants of which — two adults and a child — were not home when the explosion occurred.
Thompson said that no one was injured in the explosion, which shattered the apartment's windows. He added that the Red Cross helped residents find new housing on Saturday evening.
Marunzio Vance, who lives across the street, was inside his apartment when he heard a massive explosion. “When I got the courage to go out, I saw that the wall was gone,” he told The Times. The apartment wall disappeared. It's like something you'd see in a Marvel movie.
Vance shot video of the building showing shattered glass and window screens scattered on the sidewalk. He said he thought it was a gas explosion. “You can smell the gas a mile away,” he said.
City officials recently knocked on the doors of the apartment building where Vance lives, which he said is run by the same company that oversees the building where the explosion occurred, and talked about shutting off the gas because the landlord or property manager failed to pay the bill. Vance said.
Thompson said that 46 firefighters responded to the explosion, the cause of which is being investigated. He added that inspectors from the city's Building and Safety Department will prepare a “report on extensive damage” as well.
