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A woman dies in house explosion in Berlin, 'heroic' neighbor rescues another person from the rubble

Early Friday morning, a house in Berlin, Massachusetts exploded, resulting in the death of one woman and another woman being pulled from the rubble by a heroic neighbor and taken to the hospital.

The deceased woman is believed to be in her 80s. According to the fire chief, neighbors rushed to the scene as the fire spread and lifted part of the surviving woman's roof from the outside. She is in stable condition at the hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening.

Michael Mackey, the Berlin fire chief, praised the neighbors' actions, stating, "It was very heroic of them to go inside and lift and get her out from underneath... At that point, the fire was moving very rapidly... It's seconds. There's no question they were instrumental in saving her life and allowing her to continue living."

According to Mr. McQuillen, first responders arrived at the scene around 3:30 am after receiving a report of a house explosion in a 2.5-story wooden residence on Pleasant Street.

"It's essentially flattened," he said. "When it exploded, it came down on top of itself, so when we arrived, there was really nothing standing except for a pile of debris."

Mr. McQuillen described a "big pile of debris" from the explosion and saw materials hanging from trees above where the house once stood.

Firefighters were still putting out hotspots in the morning. There were minor damages to other houses due to flying debris.