Firefighters battle blaze at Columbia townhouses

Five townhouses have been affected by the fire that happened at around 8 p.m.in the 12000 block of Sleepy Horse Lane.

The Howard County fire department also tweeted that at least one person was rescued from a neighboring townhouse.

Firefighters are battling a fire that has spread to several townhouses in Columbia.

Local fire chiefs said a resident and a Baltimore Gas and Electric worker – who had been called to fix the leak in the Clary Forest neighborhood – were injured in the blast.

Gershman says the worker told them to evacuate their house and they were standing on the street when they witnessed the house next door explode.

Ira Gershman was preparing to break fast for Yom Kippur with family at his cousin’s residence in Clary’s Forest when a relative smelled gas. Fire officials at the site took longer than expected to arrive, declining to answer phone calls about the inferno. “It was a two-floor explosion”.

Three town homes have been damaged.

Stay with News4 and NBC Washington for more on this developing story.