A strip club in the western Massachusetts city of Springfield was torn to shreds Friday by an explosion caused by a gas leak, a city official said.

Those inside Club Scores evacuated the single, multistory building just before the blast, city spokesman Thomas Walsh said.

Even so, 18 people suffered injuries in the explosion that leveled the club's building, caused significant damage to 12 other buildings and caused collateral damage to roughly another dozen structures, city officials said. Nine of those injured were firefighters, four worked for the Columbia Gas company, two were police officers, and one was a city employee, Mayor Dominic Sarno said.