WARREN TOWNSHIP — An explosion in a boiler room at the Cleveland-Cliffs ArcelorMittal Warren Inc. steel plant on Main Avenue SW just before 3 p.m. Saturday was heard and felt miles away, including as far north as Cortland and as far south as Austintown.

Buildings, including the Tribune Chronicle in downtown Warren and the main branch of the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library on Mahoning Avenue, shook from the blast.

Social media was active for hours afterward, with some speculating it was an earthquake or another train derailment like the one in East Palestine on Feb. 3.

On social media, Naida Denise Whitmore-Davis of Warren said, “Someone I know said they felt it in Cortland but to them it was a low rumble, like a small earthquake. That’s crazy.”

Kati Lynn Pierce of McDonald posted, “Rattled my windows and doors on Thomas Road. Sounded like a bomb went off!”

Heidi Young of Liberty posted “My house shook in Liberty. Hope everyone is okay.”

Emily Earnhart, an employee of the Tribune, said she was sitting at her desk when she heard a loud boom and felt the building vibrate.

“I thought a plane flying overhead dropped something on the roof because it was so loud,” she said.

People were calling into the newsroom for several hours afterward to inquire what happened.

Callers were from Niles, Howland, Vienna, Cortland, Weathersfield and Austintown.

Melissa Liste of Howland, who lives off North Road near the former North Road school, said she heard a loud boom and felt her house shake.

“It felt like my house was lifted off the ground and set back down. I ran outside to see if my neighbor’s house exploded because it was so loud,” Liste said.

She said her daughter, Allison, 13, came out of her bedroom and said “what was that?”

Liste’s husband, Rob, works at the main library and said he didn’t feel the explosion, but several of his coworkers did.

Warren Fire Department Capt. Jim Gillen said it was a pressure related industrial explosion in the boiler unit. Gillen said the fire did not go beyond the initial explosion that residents felt and was contained to the one area.

He said no staff from the steel plant or the fire department were injured and the cause of the explosion is under investigation.

The Warren Township Fire Department posted on its social media page that no chemical leaks were reported from the blast.