3 firefighters critical, 5 other people injured in explosion at southeast Oak

An explosion tore apart an apartment building in southeast Oak Cliff on Wednesday morning, injuring at least eight people — including four firefighters.

Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans was hesitant to call the blast at the Highland Hills Apartments a gas explosion, saying that investigators were still working to determine its cause. However, residents reported smelling gas in the area up to 12 hours before the explosion, he said.

Firefighters were called about a gas leak at the complex in the 5700 block of Highland Hills Drive, near Simpson Stuart and Bonnie View roads, about 10:20 a.m. They could smell smell gas near one of the buildings when they arrive, and the blast occurred while they were investigating, Evans said.

Aerial footage showed heavy damage to one building at the apartment complex, with one corner of the two-story building destroyed and smoke wafting through a hole in the roof. Damaged windows could be seen on nearby buildings.

Evans said the western side of the building suffered extensive damage and charring from the resulting fire, making it too unstable for firefighters and first responders to enter and search thoroughly.

At least eight people were injured, including three firefighters who were hospitalized in critical condition, Evans said. A fourth firefighter and four other people who were in the building were taken to a hospital and were stable; that firefighter was later released.

Everyone in the building that exploded was accounted for, officials said.

Evans could not confirm whether authorities had been to the complex earlier to check on the reports of a gas leak.

Jim McDade, president of the Dallas Fire Fighters Association, said the department would send crews to stand guard outside Parkland Memorial Hospital as long as firefighters remained there.

”The whole department is throwing their support behind the guys who are here; we’ll stand watch over them until they get released from the hospital,” he said. “We’ll make sure that they and their families are taken care of throughout this whole ordeal.”

‘The whole thing was on fire’

Synicia Johnson was at home with her 17-year-old son in an adjacent building at the time of the blast.

”I heard the kaboom sound, and I ran outside to see what was going on,” she said, adding that she saw multiple people who had been injured. “It was like a horror, scary movie.”

Dashun Lawrence, who lives in a nearby apartment complex, said he felt a brick wall in the area rumble after he heard the explosion.

“I heard the boom, and I thought someone had crashed or something until I came over and I saw that the whole thing was on fire,” Lawrence said.

Mayor Eric Johnson, who arrived at the scene early Wednesday afternoon, said, “It looks pretty bad, it smells — it’s a serious fire.”

“Please pray for our firefighters and for the civilians who have been injured,” Johnson wrote in a tweet that called the explosion a “terrible situation.”

City Council member Tennell…