Soon after the explosion, the police and firefighters evacuated several apartment buildings near the store while workers for the utility excavated the street.

They further reported advising these firefighters to evacuate, but said that at times they were not acknowledged.

They waited there until firefighters could evacuate them.

Manto's unit was dispatched to Lodi, where the police and firefighters were evacuating residents by boat.

The firefighters evacuated them and other residents from neighboring buildings while snaking hoses through those hallways, in case a fire broke out.

Twenty-six passengers were left stranded in their seats until firefighters evacuated the ride.

The firefighters evacuated far more people - largely immigrants from China - than they had expected to find in a building of that size, the authorities said later.

The chief on the 23rd floor apparently aggressively took charge to ensure that all firefighters on the floors in the immediate area were evacuating.

Last March, firefighters evacuated the chemistry building after hydrogen sulfide fumes were detected.

A few blocks away on Kansas City's West Side, firefighters evacuated residents from water at least eight feet deep.