A firefighter was killed after a home in Virginia exploded Friday evening, injuring 11 different folks and scattering items of the house throughout the neighborhood, officers mentioned.

Firefighters arrived on the house in Sterling, Va., a suburb of Washington, about 7:40 p.m., mentioned James Williams, the assistant chief of operations for Loudoun County Fireplace and Rescue. That was across the similar time the Sterling Volunteer Fireplace Firm reported on social media that it had despatched fireplace engines to the home to analyze a fuel leak.

Quickly after, the home exploded with firefighters inside, leaving folks trapped and the world in “total devastation,” Mr. Williams mentioned.

Aerial footage of the scene from local news media confirmed smoke and particles overlaying the world and barely any indicators of the demolished home.

“There’s a debris field well into the street and into the neighboring homes,” Mr. Williams mentioned, including that the world remained an lively scene as of about 11 p.m. Fireplace crews have been nonetheless working on the website, the place fireplace continued to smolder, and all firefighters have been accounted for, he mentioned.

As the hearth authorities investigated the reason for the explosion, Washington Gasoline, the native utility firm, mentioned in a press release that it was “verifying the integrity of our system in the surrounding area.”

9 firefighters have been transported to native hospitals with accidents of various severity, Mr. Williams mentioned, as have been two civilians. He didn’t establish the firefighter who had died, pending notification of his household.

“It’s a huge physical and emotional toll on everyone associated with the fire department,” he mentioned.