Fire Officials Say Natural Gas Buildup Caused Building Collapse

A buildup of natural gas caused a three-story apartment building to collapse Sunday night on Chicago's South Side, resulting in the rescue of two women and a dog from the rubble, officials said.

The Chicago Fire Department said Tuesday its Office of Fire Investigation Division determined the buildup of gas was from "an appliance or customer owned piping."

About 1,000 power customers were left without power after the building, near East 58th Street and South Calumet Avenue in the Washington Park neighborhood, came down at around 7 p.m. after what neighbors said was a series of booms.

"I saw the door literally burst out from out the building," neighbor McKiley Jonkins said. "I didn't see the building crash or anything. I just saw the door, like, literally come to the middle the street and it hit my mom's friend's car. It busted her car window out."

Responding officials pulled two women from the debris. They were taken in serious-to-critical condition to both John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County and the University of Chicago Medical Center. A dog named Tigger was also rescued from the rubble.

Officials later deemed the buildings that flanked the collapsed building as unsafe and ordered them evacuated.

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