Oregon Building Blast Kills One, Injures Others

On Tuesday morning, an explosion ripped through a century-old building in Northeast Oregon.

The blast blew out windows and ignited flames that burned for more than an hour. One person was killed in the building blast and two others were rushed to a hospital. The explosion happened around 8 a.m. and was contained around 10:20 a.m.

Charlene Hanson commented on the Oregon building blast to the East Oregonian Newspaper.

“At first it sounded like thunder. There was a light one, a bigger one and then a huge explosion.”

Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts said that they believe they have an idea of what caused the Oregon building explosion but they are not releasing the cause without further investigation. Part of the building consisted of apartments and offices were destroyed. He praises the firefighters that were battling the blaze for keeping it under control and stopped it from spreading to nearby buildings. Roberts said that the fire was moving pretty hard and hot.

Rumors were swirling that that Oregon building blast was caused by a meth lab explosion but Roberts put a stop to the rumor and saying that drugs were not the cause of the explosion and there is no evidence to support the rumor.

Jared Pennington, who was in the building when it exploded, said he was in his music studio and felt the building shake and saw glass shatter. His music studio was located on the bottom floor on the Oregon building. He evacuated the building but raced back inside to help rescue a man on the third-floor who was seriously injured, according to the Star Tribune.

“He was bad off,” Pennington commented.

Police had to rerouted traffic and several blocks lost powder due to the explosion. The building that was involved in the blast was home to Pendleton’s city government until the mid-1990’s but then City Hall was moved and the building was sold to a private owner.

The man killed the in Oregon building blast was 25-year-old Edurardo Quezada. They other two victims of the blast, Casey Severe and Christian Garcia, were list in fair condition, according to Larry Blanc, spokesperson for St. Anthony Hospital. Severe and Garcia raced back into the building to try and rescue Quezada who was on the third floor where the explosion happened.

[Photo by Mark Makela/ Getty Images]