SEATTLE: A natural gas explosion rocked a Seattle neighbourhood early on Wednesday, sending nine firefighters to the hospital and reducing businesses to rubble. Crews were responding to reports of a natural gas leak when the explosion happened along the main thoroughfare of the city’s Greenwood neighborhood, just north of downtown, Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Corey Orvold said. As the neighborhood hummed to life on Wednesday morning, crews were still dousing an active flame with foam. Residents were checking out the damage and the rubble and glass that littered the streets was being swept up. Employees from one cafe damaged in the blast were pouring coffee for firefighters. Among the businesses damaged or destroyed was Neptune Coffee, Mr Gyro and a bike shop called G&O Family Cyclery.

“I arrived pretty soon after the massive fire trucks, and at that point, there were tons of flames leaping over what was already the rubble of Neptune coffee, which as you can see now totaled, gone,” said bike shop owner Davey Oil.

“We work pretty hard on our business and we really love the neighborhood. Our block is a pretty close-knit block and this is pretty terrible.”

Chocolati Cafe manager Darla Weidman said she’s relieved it happened overnight instead of 11 a.m. because they sometimes have a packed house.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2016