Photo: William James Shivers Jr.
Updated 2/25/26 3:12 p.m.
TAUNTON, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) – A explosion at a home in Taunton left a young mother and her 2-year-old child injured Wednesday morning.
An explosion and fire were first reported around 9:45 a.m. The 25-year-old woman and the toddler are believed to be the only two people at the home at the time. Authorities said the woman got out of the house on her own, and then went back in to get her daughter.
When responders arrived on the scene, the home was completely engulfed in flames. Both the mother and child were severely hurt. The woman was taken to Rhode Island Hospital, and her daughter was taken to Hasbro Children's Hospital.
Taunton Fire Chief Steven Lavigne said that the cause and origin of the explosion is under investigation.
Neighbor William James Shrivers Jr. told CBS News Boston he rushed outside after he heard a loud noise. At first he thought a tree had fallen until his daughter looked out a window and saw the fire.
"We started going door to door to knock on doors to see where everybody was. Some people didn't have their front yards completely shoveled out still so we had to drag them through the snow," Shrivers said.
The three-family home on Plain Street was in close proximity of other homes, two of which were heavily damaged. Eversource shut off the gas to the home and checked neighboring homes as well.
Taunton officials opened a nearby senior center as a warming shelter for people to wait before they could regain access to their homes.