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Garage Explosion Sends Debris Flying Near North Hills

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – An explosion rocked a neighborhood Monday, and investigators are trying to figure out what caused it.

The explosion shook the Summer Hill neighborhood and sent debris flying across the street.

KDKA's Christine D'Antonio Reports:

"It was pretty frightening, it was a big boom, I never felt anything like it in my life," neighbor Harry Scherer said.

Scherer caught video of the fast-moving fire on his cell phone which spread from the garage to the upper floors of a home on Cerise Lane.

"There was a big boom, and light came through the window, and there was a shake whenever it happened," Scherer said.

"I thought a tree fell on my roof because my house shook," Catherine Popp said.

Pittsburgh firefighters say it got to two alarms before they could get it out. Crews had to break the windows on the second floor to make sure the flames wouldn't spread to the roof.

Fire investigators know some sort of vehicle was inside the garage, but it's burned so badly it's tough to tell the make.

"There's some type of vehicle I can't identify. It's got a fiberglass body and it's completely burnt away," Chief Michael Mullen, of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire, said.

KDKA's Kym Gable Reports:

That vehicle may have been the source of the blast, a force so powerful that pieces of the house landed across the road.

"The garage door is actually laying across the street here," Chief Mullen said.

Relatives were taking care of the house after the homeowner passed away.

No one was home at the time, and no one was injured.

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