By Max Fontaine | Beacon explosions reporter

A massive explosion rocked the west side of Bass Lake late this afternoon. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a bright flash followed by a big bang.

The explosion happened at approximately 4:45 p.m. when someone or something did something to releases a large quantity of stored energy which had previously been contained in some sort of vessel.

There were no reported injuries or property damage from the blast, which witnesses at the scene called “loud” and “explosive.”

The detonation took place at the vacant lot behind Alice McNabb’s west side home. Mrs. McNabb, the mother of former Bass Lake Authority Police chief Gwen “Tug” McNabb, said she was standing in her parlor when suddenly her hutch began shaking and several pieces of junk mail slid to the floor.

“I thought it was an earthquake,” said Mrs. McNabb. “So I dived through the window to get outside. That’s when I saw Gwenny running toward me with his arms waving.”

Ex-chief McNabb, now bicycle patrolman McNabb, quickly cordoned off the area with yellow police tape, Mrs. McNabb said.

“My lands I didn’t know that boy could move so fast,” she said. “Now I just wonder what he was up to.”

Patrolman McNabb shooed curious onlookers away from the scene.

“Move along folks,” patrolman McNabb said. “There’s nothing to see here. That goes for you, Fontaine.”

Patrolman McNabb, whose eyebrows and mustache appear to have been recently singed, then mounted his patrol bicycle and pedaled off toward Shaky’s Bar & Grill.

By 5 p.m., things were back to normal.