An explosion at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center outside Philadelphia killed at least two people, including nursing assistant Muthoni Nduthu.

BUCKS COUNTY, PA ‒ A day after multiple explosions at a Pennsylvania nursing home killed two people and injured 20 others, authorities surveyed the extensive damage and began identifying the victims.

Muthoni Nduthu, 52, was named by the Bucks County Coroner’s Office as one of the two people found dead inside the Silver Lake Nursing Home, also known as the Bristol Health & Rehab Center, after a pair of explosions partially collapsed the facility on Dec. 23.

Nduthu, a nursing assistant at the facility, was a mother of three who was featured in news stories over a decade ago when she bought her home through the local branch of Habitat for Humanity. Clinton Ndegwa, one of Nduthu’s sons, declined to comment when reached by phone, reported the Bucks County Courier Times, part of the USA TODAY Network.

The deadly incident began around 2:20 p.m., when the first blast trapped dozens of residents inside the two-story building and triggered an intense search-and-rescue effort. Firefighters arrived on the scene and pulled frightened residents from windows, stairwells and elevator shafts as the building erupted into flames.

After first responders rescued two people from the building’s collapsed basement, a second explosion rocked the facility, producing another ball of fire and spewing more smoke into the air, said Bristol Township Fire Marshal Kevin Dippolito.

Two people, including Nduthu and a resident who has not yet been publicly identified, died from their injuries. At least 20 others were injured and over 100 residents have been displaced. The facility has more than 170 beds, though it’s not clear how many residents and staff were in the building at the time of the explosions.

Search teams ceased their operations hours after the explosion, after all residents and employees were accounted for. The next day, officials seemed to still be surveying the scope of the damage as members of various government agencies, including the National Transportation Safety Board, walked through the scene and snapped photos.

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Nursing home explosion aftermath: A view from above

Here’s a drone view of aftermath of the fatal explosion at the Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bristol on Dec. 23, 2025

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said authorities believe a gas leak led to the “catastrophic” blast. Crews for PECO, the local energy company, were responding to reports of a gas odor at the nursing home just before the first explosion was reported.

“PECO crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents,” the company said in a statement. “It is not known at this time if PECO’s equipment, or natural gas, was involved in this incident.”

An investigation into the cause of the blasts remains underway.

Shapiro and other officials described a heroic rescue effort that saw first responders hoist residents over their shoulders and carry them away from the burning building.

“In the immediate moments after the explosion, you saw what real heroism is all about,” Shapiro said. “Firefighters rushed to this scene in order to contain the explosion, in order to put out the fire, and most importantly, in order to rescue people.”

Residents who live near the facility said they could feel the explosions from inside their homes.

Joe Westergon, who lives a few blocks from the facility, told the Bucks County Courier Times that he helped carry six injured residents to safety.

A prominent Rhode Island Democrat was captured on police bodycam video asking an officer, “You know who I am?” before her arrest during a recent traffic stop. 

Maria Bucci, 51, who is the chairwoman of the Democratic committee in Cranston – the second-largest city in the state – is now facing a misdemeanor DUI charge following a traffic stop on Dec. 18 in East Greenwich, according to media reports. 

“You know who I am right?” Bucci is heard telling an East Greenwich police officer just moments after he said he smelled alcohol in her breath and described her driving as erratic. 

“I don’t know who you are miss,” the officer responds, before adding, “You can start throwing out names and start doing out what you need to do, it’s not going to work with me, I’m telling you right now, I’m not the guy for that.”

RHODE ISLAND PROSECUTOR IN VIRAL ARREST VIDEO PLACED ON UNPAID LEAVE

The bodycam footage shows the officer trying to lead Bucci through a series of sobriety tests. 

Bucci, a former Cranston mayoral candidate, previously served on the City Council from 2004 to 2008 and also launched an unsuccessful bid for a Rhode Island House of Representatives seat last year, the Cranston Herald reported. 

At one point during the traffic stop, Bucci is heard saying, “Call my husband right now, and call the attorney general and everybody else in town, cause this is disgusting, God forbid I was a Black person, I’d be arrested.”

WATCH: FOOTAGE SHOWS BLUE STATE PROSECUTOR WARNING OFFICERS THEY’LL ‘REGRET’ ARRESTING HER: ‘I’M AN AG!’

The officer eventually takes Bucci into custody. As she is placed in handcuffs, she says “you’re a d—” and looks towards the body camera. 

“Like I am not drinking, you’re a loser,” she adds. 

At the beginning of the video, Bucci told the officer she had a glass of wine and had attended a Christmas party.

Bucci, who is expected to be arraigned on Jan. 5, was released on a $1,000 personal recognizance, according to WPRI. 

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Bucci and the Rhode Island Democratic Party did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital. 

WESTON — In the New England state that grows the most Christmas trees, the Vermont Country Store offers a seeming galaxy of ornaments and add-ons, from floor-hugging skirts to ceiling-grazing stars.

“Evergreen trees are a universal symbol of the season,” the third generation of Orton family storekeepers writes on its website.

So why has the $100 million-a-year business seen a 2-foot-tall boxed alternative become a surprise bestseller?

“When things in the world seem a little chaotic, it brings back great memories and puts a smile on your face,” merchandising manager Julie Noyes said of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, which debuted six decades ago and has drawn new interest from people starting up or downsizing in a chilly economy.

When Charles Schulz introduced “Peanuts” 75 years ago, the late cartoonist didn’t envision the comic strip would lead to global syndication and a series of television specials, beginning with 1965’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

In that show, the title character searches for the perfect Christmas tree, only to come home with a straggly sapling.

“Gee, do they still make wooden Christmas trees?” his friend Linus asks. “Maybe it just needs a little love.”

And with the addition of a blanket around its base, the conifer is soon warming hearts.

Sixty years later, $21.95 official replicas can be found at Vermont Country Stores in Weston and Rockingham, in their mail-order catalog and on their website — and in customer homes from Connecticut to California.

“It’s precious, just precious,” Jill Charbonneau said in a call from the Rockport, Maine, home she and her husband, Paul, have shared for a half-century. “It’s so simple and says everything it’s supposed to say.”

She’s not alone in her appreciation. The tree has an average customer rating of 4.9 out of 5, according to its webpage, with nearly 100 rave reviews about its simple cost, scale and upkeep from people coast to coast.

Take the Illinois couple settling into their first home. The traveling nurse on the road. The Colorado widow living alone. The Florida shopper rebuilding after a hurricane. All agree with the comment from the North Carolina woman facing mobility issues: “This little tree is my solution.” 

“It’s neat to have an old memory right in front of ya,” a Texas man adds in his review. “Takes me back to a time when life seemed so easy.”

The Vermont Country Store, with 450 year-round workers, almost doubles its staff each December to maintain its retail shops, Manchester offices and Clarendon distribution center during the busy holiday season, Noyes says. But the merchandising manager won’t specify how many Charlie Brown Christmas Trees are sold.

“Lots,” she says. “Lots and lots.”

All embodying something small and simple.

“Less is more,” one California reviewer summed up the tree. “It is a little ray of hope.”