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Albuquerque police have cited a man they say ran his pickup into the gas main at a Northeast Heights apartment complex, sparking an explosion that sent one firefighter about 10 feet through the air.

The firefighter, whose name was not released, was caught in a natural gas blast shortly after firefighters arrived at 246 Texas St. N.E. around 1:20 p.m. on July 3.

"He slammed into a wall, and his bunker gear was on fire," Albuquerque Fire Department spokesman Capt. Mike Paiz said at the fire scene. "They rolled him out and put out the fire, and he went straight to the hospital."

The pickup hit the apartment complex's gas main, shearing the lines and starting the fire, officials said.

The fire destroyed all six apartments in the building, including that of tenant Chris Villegas.

He watched from just beyond the police tape as his apartment burned. Villegas, 24, said he was home when the truck hit.

"The apartment just shook," he said. "I heard a hissing, and so I got out and jumped a fence around back."

Villegas sat nearby and watched the building burn. He said he lost his computer and important paperwork in the blaze, things he said won't be easy to replace. He's a student who has been studying to be a financial adviser.

"I'm in transition," he said, "getting out of college and about to start a career. I had six months before I needed to take this really important test, and now everything is just gone."

Building manager Sharon Sheldon was at the scene and cooperating with police. Together, they accounted for Villegas and his fellow tenants, none of whom was hurt.

Nearby homes were evacuated because natural gas leaking from the broken line lingered in the air.

The fire was extinguished by 5 p.m., Paiz said, but the neighbors had to wait several hours to hear whether they could return home.

The driver of the pickup, Chad Quandelay, 21, of Zuni was charged with careless driving and not having insurance, police spokeswoman Trish Hoffman said.