A house explosion tore through a home on Circle Drive in Portsmouth, Ohio, Sunday afternoon, critically injuring two women who were found outside the residence as firefighters battled flames across multiple rooms. The Portsmouth Fire Department was dispatched around 2:15 p.m. to the 2000 block of Circle Drive, where crews arrived to heavy damage consistent with a blast and parts of the home actively burning.
According to J NEWS NETWORK, the department was dispatched to 2894 Circle Drive at 2:16 p.m. Sunday, with arriving crews encountering heavy blast damage and active fires across multiple rooms as firefighters conducted fast interior suppression while searching for anyone who might have been trapped inside. The two women who escaped the residence were found outside with critical injuries, according to WCHS.
Victims Airlifted and Driven to Columbus for Trauma Care
The two women were treated at the scene by firefighters and Portsmouth Ambulance paramedics before being transported to Southern Ohio Medical Center, according to a Facebook post from the Portsmouth Fire Department. From there, one victim was flown to Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus via Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter, while the second was transferred by ground ambulance, per the same post.
Southern Ohio Medical Center serves as Scioto County's primary hospital and emergency trauma intake center, with patients suffering critical burn or multi-system trauma typically stabilized locally before being transported roughly 90 miles north to tertiary facilities in Columbus, the station's report notes. That pattern held true Sunday, as both women needed the specialized care only available at the Columbus facility.
Cause of Blast Still Under Investigation
The cause of the fire and explosion remains under investigation, per WCHS. Fire officials reported that a natural gas leak had occurred at the property, prompting utility provider Columbia Gas of Ohio to dispatch emergency crews to secure the area and support the investigation, according to Pritzker Hageman, P.A. Investigators have not publicly confirmed whether the leak caused the explosion or resulted from it, nor have they identified an ignition source or determined whether any mechanical or equipment failure was involved.
The investigation is being conducted jointly by the Portsmouth Fire Department, the Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office, and the National Transportation Safety Board, according to River News Network. NTSB involvement in a case like this generally signals scrutiny of natural gas distribution or pipeline infrastructure. The Ohio State Fire Marshal's Fire and Explosion Investigations Bureau, the nation's first official arson investigation agency when it was established in 1901, conducts between 15 and 25 formal explosive incident investigations annually across the state, ranging from residential gas leaks to industrial blasts, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce.
Part of a Rough Year for Ohio Structure Fires
The Portsmouth Fire Department operates from three stations — Central Station on Gallia Street, Hilltop Station on 17th Street, and the Sciotoville Station on Harding Avenue — staffing 38 sworn firefighters to protect an 11-square-mile area with more than 20,000 residents, according to the City of Portsmouth. The department also runs specialized urban search and rescue and water rescue units.
The explosion lands amid a troubling statewide trend. The Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office warned in June that fire-related fatalities were on pace to surpass the 126 deaths recorded across Ohio in 2025, according to WBNS-TV. Federal fire statistics from 2023 show Ohio residential structure fires resulted in 34.4 injuries and 8.4 deaths per 1,000 fires, well above the national averages of 19.7 injuries and 5.8 deaths per 1,000 fires, per USFA.FEMA.gov figures tracked through the National Fire Incident Reporting System.
Sunday's blast also marks the second catastrophic residential structure disaster in Scioto County this year. In June, a small plane slammed into a Minford home, killing the pilot and destroying the residence while its occupants narrowly escaped. Both incidents required rapid multi-agency emergency medical, rescue, and fire suppression responses in the same county within a two-month span.
