Watch an empty New Jersey house disintegrate in a massive natural gas explosion

This house in Stafford Township, NJ, is about to disappear — (Image credit: AP/YouTube)

There's an important law-enforcement purpose for police dashboard cameras, but they also capture unexpected sights — like on Tuesday, the natural gas explosion that made a house in Stafford Township, New Jersey, disappear in a ball of flame and shooting debris. Luckily, the house was unoccupied for renovations. Unluckily, 15 firefighters and gas company employees looking for the leak were injured in the blast, two of them critically.

"It happened so quickly, the explosion, debris all around us coming from nowhere," Stafford Township Fire Chief Jack Johnson tells The Associated Press. "It knocked you off your feet, a shock wave, the concussion of it. It's something I never want to experience again." Some 300 homes in the Jersey Shore town were without gas on Tuesday night, and some were also without electricity. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.