BETHEL, Ohio — Two people were killed and another person was injured in a house explosion Tuesday in southwest Ohio.

The explosion occurred just before 9 a.m. The power of the blast scattered debris throughout the neighborhood, reports say.

Bethel-Tate Fire Chief Christopher Cooper tells WLWT Channel 5 that a man and woman died in the blast. An injured male, whom witnesses say was a heating repair worker, was taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with burn injuries, WLWT reports.

The home was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, WCPO Channel 9 reports. The man and woman who lived in the home reportedly had several cats and at least two survived the blast, WCPO reports.

The Ohio State Fire Marshal will lead the investigation into the blast. Bethel is a village in Tate Township in southwestern Ohio.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)

Two people are dead and one person is injured after a house exploded and caught on fire in Ohio.

The house, located in Bethel, about 40 miles east of downtown Cincinnati, exploded around 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning, The Cincinnati Enquirer, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. Bethel-Tate Fire Chief Christopher Cooper told the outlet reports of the explosion had come in while crews were approaching the area.

Once there, they found debris from the explosion and the house on fire. Officials confirmed that two people died as a result of the incident. Another person has been taken to a local hospital with burn injuries.

Cooper also said that crews are currently working on finding the source of the explosion, with neighboring homes suffering minor damages.

Photos show the explosion aftermath

Photos from the site show the smoldering remains of the house following the explosion with some of the house’s belongings being strewn across the area.

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

Springfield, Ohio, was thrust into the national spotlight this election cycle due to the vast number of Haitian migrants who had settled in the town over the last few years, but some of those migrants have already packed their bags and left in the wake of President-elect Trump’s sweeping win.

The town, which according to the 2020 census has under 60,000 residents, has struggled to cater to a population boom between 15,000 to 20,000 Haitian migrants following decades of population decline. Residents have complained that the uncontrolled influx has drained resources and services, made the town less safe, driven up rents and caused longer wait times for medical and social services.

Locals have especially expressed frustrations over road safety, arguing that immigrants who have no to little experience driving in their home countries have been allowed to take to the streets with ease, causing a dangerous situation on the roads.

Many of those migrants had settled in the community having attained the ability to live and work in the U.S. for a limited time thanks to temporary protected status (TPS) but President-elect Trump signaled on the campaign trail he would yank such permits, striking fear into the migrants, some of whom have already fled the town ahead of Trump’s return to office. 

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“People are leaving,” Margery Koveleski, of the Haitian Community Alliance (HCA), tells the Guardian.

“Some folks don’t have credit cards or access to the internet, and they want to buy a bus ticket or a plane ticket, so we help them book a flight.”

Jacob Payen, a co-founder of the HCA who also runs a business that includes helping Haitians in Springfield to file tax returns, also told the publication that migrants have been leaving.

“People are fully aware of the election result, and that is why they are leaving; they are afraid of a mass deportation,” Payen said. 

“Several of my customers have left. One guy with his family went to New Jersey; others have gone to Boston. I know three families that have gone to Canada.”

Some of the Haitian migrants are thought to have moved to nearby cities such as Dayton, where they believe they would be less visible to law enforcement, while others who had temporary asylum in Brazil are considering going back to the South American country, per the Guardian, citing community leaders.

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Police patrol the streets of Port-au-Prince amid rampant gang violence, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, April 23, 2024. (REUTERS/Ralph Tedy Erol)

Migrants have been fleeing their home nation since it was plunged into a political crisis in 2018 with protests sweeping the island it shares with the Dominican Republic. Gang violence has exploded in the country and a transitionary council removed Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille from office earlier this month, replacing him in the role after just six months.

Springfield became a flashpoint in the presidential election when both President-elect Trump and Vice-President elect JD Vance claimed that Haitian migrants were eating pets there.  

“They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats,” Trump said on the debate stage against Vice-President Harris. “They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”

Trump has also vowed to carry out the largest deportation operation in the history of the U.S. and has appointed hardliner South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to serve as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) while Tom Homan will be the new “Border Czar.” 

The DHS oversees U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Noem will also oversee TPS and has deployed the state National Guard to the southern border several times in recent years.

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Haitian migrants in Mexico, left, and Vice-President elect JD Vance, right, who claimed migrants in Springfield were eating pets.  ((Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images and Daniel Cardenas/Anadolu via Getty Images))

Payen believes that droves of Haitian migrants leaving the town will have a detrimental impact on the local economy and in other states. 

The Guardian reports that the Haitian migrants filled thousands of jobs at area packaging and auto plants, which have helped rejuvenate the area, while Haitian restaurants regularly source food from other states.

“I pay thousands of dollars in income and property taxes every year,” Payen told the outlet. “And – because I work with Haitians to file their taxes – I see their W-2s and so on. If these people leave, that money is gone from the city and the local economy.”