DENVER (KDVR) — Investigators believe a gas leak is what caused an apartment building to explode in the 400 block of South Lincoln Street on Thursday night. 

According to the Denver Fire Department, it is unclear where the gas was leaking from or what ignited it.

“It actually sounded like a bomb,” Emily Stallings said.

Stallings is renovating her home across the street from where the building exploded. She said she was standing at her front window discussing window treatments when debris hit the glass. 

“And then there was a huge thud on our window,” she said. “And then I look straight forward and the house is completely demolished.”

Part of multi-unit residential building on South Lincoln Street in Denver collapsed after an explosion on Aug. 10, 2023.
Part of a multi-unit residential building on South Lincoln Street in Denver collapsed after an explosion on Aug. 10, 2023. (Photo: KDVR)

Home explosion sent debris across the street

Half of the four-unit building has been reduced to rubble. The other half is still standing with its interior exposed.

“My first instinct was, we’ve been doing so much construction on the house, I hope like there wasn’t a gas line, because we just messed with our sewer line. I hope we didn’t mess with something that caused this,” Stallings said.

The blast was so powerful it sent pieces of the building flying into other properties across the street.

“There was like an entire window frame in our yard that we threw away and glass shards everywhere,” Stallings said. 

Denver Fire says determining the cause of the explosion will be difficult. Investigators are still combing through details from the scene, eyewitness accounts and surveillance video.