Police have identified the man who drove his vehicle into a Lansing apartment building Tuesday afternoon, causing an explosion that burned most of it to the ground, but will not release his name, citing an ongoing investigation.

The man is recovering in a local hospital, but his condition is unknown, Lansing police Lt. Bruce Ferguson said.

The explosion was caused when the unidentified man drove his car into the apartment building, striking a gas line.

One other woman was injured when she jumped out an upper-level window of the Waverly Park Apartments, 3930 Hartford Road, in Lansing, but her injuries were not life threatening, Ferguson said.

Officers are investigating the accident, which will take about a week, he said.

"We're still not quite there," Ferguson said. "It's a big waiting period right now."

The building is totally lost, he said, with 36 apartments destroyed. Damage estimates are not yet known.

Officers did scene reconstruction Wednesday, Lansing Fire Capt. John Dyer said.

The remains of the building were checked by the City of Lansing's Office of Code Compliance and was deemed unsafe to enter, he said.

"It may be a matter of bulldozing it," he said.

Agencies were originally called out for a car accident with someone trapped in the car, Dyer said. Officers and firefighters were able to get the man out of the car, and started evacuating residents when they smelled gas, he said.

"It was a very close call," he said. "We happened to be not in the direct line of blast when it happened."

No officers or firefighters were injured in the explosion.

"There was debris across the street," Dyer said. "The windshield was blown out of a fire truck."

Within minutes, the building was engulfed in flames.

It took the police department and accounting office until 8 p.m. Tuesday to contact and account for all of the residents, Dyer said.

The American Red Cross Mid-Michigan Chapter was on the scene until late in the night and provided cots to people affected by the explosion, said Community Relations Coordinator Sarah Clevenger.

She compared the explosion to the Dec. 26 tsunami and said that although the explosion was not as large, it still greatly impacted the people involved.

"It's the same in the fact that it was here locally, and the impact left on individuals was exactly the same, the seriousness of the disaster is exactly the same," Clevenger said.

Wednesday, the local Red Cross chapter received apartment residents who needed new clothes, food or a place to stay for a few nights.

Waverly Park resident Alfonso Rubin Jr. narrowly escaped the fire, vacating the building minutes before the explosion.

"You could feel it all over the complex," Rubin said. "Everything shook, the ground, the buildings. It was crazy."

Rubin's apartment was on the end of the building, and he said he was told he might be able to salvage some items.

"I guess material things can be replaced," he said. "At least I got out."

Staff writer Kristin Longley contributed to this report.