A residential home explosion on Sunday evening in a quiet Chino Hills neighborhood left nine people hospitalized, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department told NTD News Monday. Officials with the Chino Valley Fire District also said the incident forced the temporary evacuation of 16 homes along Sierra Vista Drive.
The blast occurred around 3:45 p.m. at a home in the 4200 block of Sierra Vista Drive, demolishing the front of the home and damaging several neighboring properties.
Neighbors described the moment of impact to local media on the scene that evening.
The explosion’s force was so intense that several neighbors initially felt they had experienced an earthquake. Carlos Navarro told KTLA, “I thought it was an aftershock or something because it was just really abrupt and super fast.”
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department did not provide specific details about the ages or genders of those injured. A spokesperson said nine people were in the home at the time of the incident and all were treated at local hospitals. Residents in the surrounding area have since been let back into their homes and services have returned to those homes as well, except for the home in question.
One neighbor described attempting to help a burn victim, telling ABC 7 News, “I tried to help her. I didn’t want to pick her up, because she was burnt. I didn’t want to hurt her even more.”
First responders quickly established an evacuation perimeter after finding the active gas leak at the property, fire officials said. SoCal Edison and SoCal Gas were on scene.
Some neighbors said they were surprised at where the explosion occurred, noting that law enforcement recently had visited the home in recent weeks, according to KTLA.
Neighbor Adrienne Alvarez said she saw social service workers visit the home and observed that the residents were rarely visible except at night.
Huynh said the gas leak clearly played a role but also made speculation due to the recent police visits: “It may have been a gas leak. Gas is involved for sure. But I mean, police have been out here multiple times within the past couple of days, past two weeks they’ve been out here and it’s always been the same thing. They have people detained and nothing ever happens from it. And then all of a sudden, the house blows up.”
