NANTICOKE -- One woman is in jail and now police have an arrest warrant for another man. Both are accused of causing a meth lab explosion over the weekend in Luzerne County.
Police say the blast blew the front door right off part of the building and now we're learning there were children in the apartment next door.
Police accuse two people from Berwick of cooking methamphetamine when their meth lab blew up.
Jessica Collett is in jail and Adam Longenberger is on the run.
Police say they caused the explosion Saturday night in Nanticoke that knocked the front door right off the building on Lee Mine Street. Inside a door blew off the hinges, too.
"I was in my bathroom and I heard a boom and I looked out the window and there were people running up the alleyway," said neighbor Jason Wojciechowski.
Neighbors tell us right upstairs, right next door, there was a family with two kids.
"I was going to see if they're alright and if they're back in there or not," Wojciechowski said.
He lives right across the street and is friends with the family of four forced out after the blast.
Police say they and the other tenants of the building will likely be back soon.
The apartment with the meth lab may stay off limits longer. Neighbors say they had no reason to suspect trouble.
"I was really surprised because there were never people coming in or out or anything like that," Wojciechowski added.
"I was shocked. I was shocked. Like I said, I thought this was a nice quiet neighborhood," said neighbor Lenny Karpowicz.
Police say there's reason for neighbors to be surprised about what happened. They think this was the first time meth was cooked there, and that Collett and Longenberger got the woman who lived in the apartment to let them cook it up there.
"They got their stuff together, they needed a place, they found a place through this girl and they attempted to make meth that night," said Nanticoke Police Chief Bill Shultz.
Instead, police accuse them of nearly causing a catastrophe.
"The bottom line is, any time these individuals make this illegal substance, there's always a chance it could blow up and explode," said Chief Shultz.
Police say it's amazing no one was seriously hurt, but they do think Adam Longenberger may have some burns.
