The Associated Press
 Photo courtesy of Craig Dugas Emergency personnel and firefighters respond to a natural gas explosion on Main Street in Bozeman, Mont., Thursday. It prompted the evacuation of a two-block area and left one person missing. View the EMS1 slideshow of the incident |
BOZEMAN, Mont. — A natural gas explosion and fire rocked downtown Bozeman on Thursday morning, collapsing three buildings, prompting evacuation of a two-block area and leaving one person missing, officials said.
Crews were allowing the fire to burn because officials hadn’t been able to completely shut off a natural gas line.
Assistant City Manager Chuck Winn said there were no reports of casualties, but said the rubble of the collapsed buildings was not yet safe to search.
“There’s so much damage there and so much fire still that we cannot get our crews in,” to search the rubble, Winn said.
City officials said four businesses were destroyed _ a restaurant, a bar, a gallery and a children’s store _ as well as an American Legion building.
The blast shook ceiling tiles at Schnee’s Boots and Shoes three blocks from the explosion and knocked down shoes that were on display, said Dawn McClelland, who had just reported for work.
“The whole building shook,” she said. “I thought somebody had rammed (a car) into the back of the building. The people up front thought the ceiling was falling in.”