Explosion at Bucks County nursing home leaves people trapped

Part of a nursing home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, collapsed in an apparent gas explosion Tuesday afternoon, trapping an unknown number of people under the rubble.

The incident occurred around 2:15 p.m. at Bristol Health and Rehabilitation Center, also known as Silver Lake Nursing Home, in the 900 block of Tower Road in Bristol Township.

PECO confirmed crews responded around 2 p.m. after smelling gas.

The explosion occurred while the teams were at the scene.

Video taken from Action Cam shows flames coming out of the building. Debris was seen scattered throughout the region.

An explosion and fire was reported at a nursing home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

This facility is operated by Saber Healthcare Group, headquartered in Ohio.

We reached out to them for comment but so far have yet to receive a response.

A woman who works at the facility said she tried to contact her co-workers, but no one answered her calls. This woman also told Action News she smelled gas over the weekend.

A man who came to the scene said that his wife worked in a nursing home and that he had not heard from her yet.

Due to the intense emergency response, the public is asked to stay away from the area and police describe it as a ‘mass casualty incident’.

Rescuers were called from neighboring Montgomery County, the city of Philadelphia and New Jersey.

“I saw smoke and I saw car after car after fire truck or ambulance coming from all over the city, all over the city,” State Rep. Tina Davis, whose district includes the center, told The Associated Press. He approached the scene with his car but did not want to interfere with response efforts.

Davis said there was talk of using a nearby school as a temporary evacuation area. According to the state report, the nursing home has 174 beds.

Bristol County School Board President Jim Morgan said district buses will take people from the nursing home emergency to the reunion center at Truman High School.

He said authorities were working to prepare beds and provide residents with water and other needs.

“We understand there are people trapped inside,” said Ruth Miller, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

“It’s very sad, it’s a hopeful time of year. It’s a sad thing for everybody, the families and the workers that are there. I hope positive things come out of this. We don’t know that right now,” Davis said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.