Fire officials: 3 hurt in Chicago house explosion

[November 14, 2011]  CHICAGO (AP) -- An explosion has flattened one home in Chicago, burned others and sent two people to the hospital with serious burns.

Chicago police and fire officials say a woman in her 50s and a man in his 40s were seriously burned in the blast shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday in the city's West Lawn neighborhood. Another man in the home took himself to the hospital with undisclosed injuries, and a firefighter sustained a minor hand injury.

Chicago Fire Department spokesman Will Knight says 250 firefighters and paramedics responded to the blast. Several homes were burned, but everyone in them got out safely.

Knight says the fire department and utility companies Peoples Gas and ComEd are investigating the explosion.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.