WEST READING, Pennsylvania — Two people are dead and five others are unaccounted for after an explosion and four-alarm fire at a West Reading, Pennsylvania chocolate factory on Friday evening.
Officials say one person was found alive and pulled from the rubble overnight Saturday.
Chief of Police Wayne Holben said the rescue of one person from the rubble “provides hope that others still may be found.”
Rescue workers were continuing a thorough search using specialized equipment and techniques. Officials said dogs and imaging equipment were being used to look for signs of life during the careful removal of debris.
The names of the people who were killed have not been released.
Tower Health said Saturday that Reading Hospital received a total of 10 patients.
“Of those, one was transferred to Lehigh Valley Hospital, one to Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center, two have been admitted and are in good and fair condition, and the others have been discharged,” the health system said in a statement.
There has been no official word on a cause of this blast, including whether it was caused by a gas leak.
A UGI Utilities spokesperson said crews were brought in after damage from the blast led to the release of gas that was helping to feed the fire.
“We did not receive any calls regarding a gas leak or gas order prior to the incident, but we are cooperating with the investigation and part of that will be to check all our facilities in the vicinity,” UGI spokesperson Joseph Swope said Saturday.
The blast happened around 5 p.m. at the R.M. Palmer Company.
Witnesses reported hearing an explosion coming from the candy factory, then saw flames shortly after.
Kristen Wisniewski lives three blocks from the local and well-known chocolate company.
“It was the loudest thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” she said. “It literally felt like the ground fell out from underneath you. The whole house shook and my dogs froze, they couldn’t move, it was scary.”
The damage is extensive. Officials say RM Palmer Building #2 is destroyed and there’s damage at the neighboring Palmer building #1.
“It’s pretty leveled, unfortunately there’s not too much to be able to salvage from it,” said Mayor Samantha Kaag. “In the front, with the church and the apartments, the explosion was so big that it moved that building four feet forward.”
When a father and son duo first heard the explosion, they said they didn’t know what to think.
“I didn’t know, I just come running out and saw that mess over there. I think it was a gas explosion the way it sounded,” said Garry Witmoyer from Wyomissing. “It was very scary, the building filled with smoke from just the explosion.”
“I didn’t see flames at first, just a bunch of shingles and materials falling from the sky. I knew it was an explosion,” said Witmoyer’s son, Garry Witmoyer Jr.
Kaag said people were asked to move back about a block in each direction but no evacuations were ordered. She had issued an emergency declaration only to allow more resources for first responders. Borough manager Dean Murray said some residents were displaced from the damaged apartment building.
Philip Wert, vice president of the West Reading council, said the building had been constructed in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and officials had to “access our archive to pull the blueprints last night, in order to get a better layout of the building and the mechanicals and the utilities, where things are.”
“The silver lining in all this is someone was found alive, someone was found alive that was in rubble, not knowing whether they were going to live or die, and fortunately we found that person and they’ve got a second chance, and hopefully fingers crossed we’re going to find more,” he said.
WATCH | Explosion caught on camera
The company’s website says it has been making “chocolate novelties” since 1948 and now has 850 employees at its West Reading headquarters.
Governor Josh Shapiro and PEMA Director Randy Padfield visited the site on Saturday. Shapiro pledged ongoing resources and support.
“Our hearts break for the families of those who didn’t come home,” Shapiro said in a statement. “We are with you – and my Administration is here to provide all the resources and support West Reading needs.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
