EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Several houses were destroyed and three people killed in an explosion in Evansville Wednesday afternoon. Nearly 40 houses were damaged, 11 of them uninhabitable.

The explosion happened about two minutes before 1 p.m., local time.

Fire Chief Mike Connelly told reporters late Wednesday afternoon that three people had died.

“We unfortunately have a coroner report of three deaths as a result of the explosion,” he said. “Thirty-nine houses were damaged either severely or minor damage.”

Connelly said the houses nearest the explosion were in such bad shape that they were unsafe for firefighters to search for people who may still be in them.

“An investigation into the cause of the blast is on-going at this time,” said Connelly. “Alcohol, Tobacco and firearms has come in to do that blast analysis, which means our removal of the debris and searching for more victims has come to a halt for the time being.”

Connelly said he does not know how long it takes the ATF to make a determination on the cause. He recounted what happened in an earlier press conference.

“Our units were dispatched at 12:59, arrived on the scene at 13:02, immediately called for a second alarm,” said Connelly.

People were being asked to avoid the area of North Weinbach and Belleview avenues.

“It looks like a house explosion,” he said. “I know that sounds trite. But, there’s debris in a radius of over a hundred feet and damage to multiple structures.”

He said Center Point Energy immediately responded to the notification that there had been an explosion, to make the area safe. He said the gas company personnel read nothing on their detectors when they got there.

He added that a structural collapse team was in the area to find out whether other houses in the neighborhood were safe. Several nearby businesses were also affected, some on generator power. Security video showed the smoke billowing up at the moment of the explosion.

“We’re trying to get a roster of people that were supposed to be at the surrounding structures,” said Connelly, as his team worked to get a handle on exactly what happened just before 1 p.m.