A power line felled by Thursday afternoon storms appears to be the cause of an explosion at a BP Amoco gas station in west suburban Berwyn.
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The gas station market at 6749 W. Ogden Ave. exploded into flames as high as 20 feet and was destroyed, according to Berwyn officials and eyewitnesses.
No one was injured in the afternoon blast, according to Berwyn police and Berwyn Ald. Micah Caldwell, 1st. The fire had been contained by Thursday evening, but was not extinguished.
The explosion and fire occurred around the time that a line of thunderstorms with high winds moved across the area, knocking out power to thousands.
Berwyn police and fire officials arrived at the 6700 block of Ogden Avenue just before 3:45 p.m., responding to reports of downed power lines, officials said in a news release.
While on scene, two main gas lines at the gas station ignited, forcing firefighters to battle the blaze as police evacuated nearby homes and businesses. Moments later, the gas lines exploded, destroying the gas station and shattering windows in nearby homes and businesses.
Deandra Loggins, 44, who lives directly across from the gas station, witnessed much of the mayhem as he stood outside his home with his two sons. He said he noticed sparks coming from the fallen power line. The ground started to “pop” and “burst,” Loggins recalled.
Loggins confirmed that the sparking line continued as the Fire Department arrived. Caldwell said there was already a small fire in the alley behind the gas station.
The firefighters appeared to keep their distance from the power line as they waited for the power to be shut off, Loggins said.
But before the power could be disconnected, he added, the power line made contact with a gas line and ignited the fire. When Loggins felt the force of the explosion and heard a “boom,” he said he ran from the BP.
“It was like a bomb went off,” he said. “It was a sound I had never heard before, like one you hear in the movies. The scene looked like a freaking war zone.” He and his kids ran toward their apartment building. “When I looked back, the gas station was destroyed,” he said.
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The impact of the explosion knocked a window screen off Loggins’ apartment in addition to blowing out windows on the block.
Both his building and the one next to it lost power, as well as several more blocks of buildings. Loggins received a text from ComEd that his power would be restored by 8:30 p.m., but Caldwell said it’s unclear how long power will be out, as ComEd will likely need to wait out the fire before fixing the power outage.
“What I’m doing right now is letting residents know that power might be out for some time, for the foreseeable future, until this really gets under control,” Caldwell said.