SANTA MONICA (KABC) -- Santa Monica police said an explosion Thursday near a Jewish school and prayer house was caused by some type of mechanical failure and not a bomb.
The blast was reported about 6:45 a.m. in the 1400 block of 18th Street, according to the Santa Monica Police Department. Authorities from the Santa Monica and LAPD bomb squad responded to the scene.
The blast shattered windows at the Chabad House Lubavitch of Santa Monica and launched an object into the roof of a home next door. Video from AIR7 showed firefighters pulling out a pole with its bottom encased in a plug of concrete about 11:30 a.m.
Rabbi Eli Levitansky said he was conducting a Passover service for about 20 people when explosion occurred.
"It wasn't anything of an explosion like you'd imagine. It was in the back of the building while the services were in the front so nothing alarming," said Rabbi Levitansky. "The alarming part was when the fire department and the police department came and evacuated us from the building. Then we realized that something serious might have happened and we continued services on the street."
No injuries were reported. About 100 people were evacuated from nearby homes and businesses while bomb experts investigated.
The Santa Monica Synagogue is about a block away.
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