Nearly two weeks after an explosion ripped through a Balch Springs strip mall, causing minor injuries to several people, the shopping center remains closed.
The Balch Springs Fire Department responded to a call concerning a building explosion at 4101 Pioneer Rd. shortly after 7 p.m. on August 19. The explosion appears to have emanated from the A1 Nail Spa in Suite 300 of the 7,500-square-foot structure.
Video taken in the aftermath of the explosion shows the front of the store blown out from the inside. Images captured by a drone show a large gaping hole in the roof above the shop.
Balch Springs Fire Chief Eric Neal told Fox 4 KDFW that when the crews arrived on the scene, smoke was emanating from the roof of the building.
There was a lot of damage, a lot of chaos,” Neal told Fox 4.
Twelve people were inside the building at the time of the blast. Some sustained minor injuries, but none were seriously hurt.
Firefighters extinguished a small fire that erupted after the blast and began tending to the wounded. A pregnant woman and one other person were transported to the hospital to be checked out, according to a press release from the Balch Springs Emergency Management Department.
Fire department officials determined that the explosion occurred when fumes from a gas leak collected in the attic of the nail salon. However, officials have not yet located the source of the leak.
“We don’t know where the gas started it, but it was concentrated above the nail salon,” said Neal, according to Fox 4. “Once it exploded, the way it looks from both walls next to the nail salon, it lifted the walls and settled down in place, and the two adjacent buildings were affected by that.”
“We could see the entire roof open like a can. Like I said before, we were very fortunate that it happened [that way] because most of it was concentrated up and out. But that explosion lifted the building,” said Neal, according to Fox 4.
The building suffered extensive structural damage due to the explosion, according to the press release. All businesses in the building are closed, and it is unknown when the shopping center will reopen.