Sacramento Fire Department Chief Ray Jones told CBS13 he will make sure changes are made to department policy after firefighters were injured in a house explosion earlier this month while lacking crucial safety equipment.

Four firefighters from Station 6 were not wearing gloves or protective masks when they approached an Oak Park home after reports of a gas leak on the morning of July 5. An explosion severely damaged the home as firefighters tried to enter, burning them on their hands and faces.

The firefighters were not violating policy by not wearing the equipment because the department does not have a policy regarding gas leaks, according to officials.

Chief Jones said that will soon change.

"In light of what happened and with 20-20 hindsight, we should have a policy," Jones said. "The changes won't be knee-jerk, there are going to be changes that are responsibly measured."

Requiring firefighters to wear gloves and masks may have reduced the severity of the injuries, but likely would not have allowed firefighters to have escaped the blast completely unharmed, Jones added.

"If they had their gloves on they might have been hurt less. I can say that, but I can't say that the gloves would have stopped the burns," Jones said. "The mask might've prevented some of the facial burning that we had."

The lack of a specific policy for gas leaks is not unique to the Sacramento Fire Department -- the Sacramento Metro Fire Department doesn't have one, Modesto Fire doesn't have an official policy but requires firefighters to treat gas leaks like fires, and the San Jose Fire Department has a policy currently being updated to instruct crews on proper safety gear for gas leaks.

"We run so many of them that there is a tendency to let your guard down," Jones said.

The Sacramento Fire Department responded to 225 gas leaks last year, almost all of which ended uneventfully.

Was there anything firefighters could have done to prevent injury in the explosion?

"That's a tough one," Jones said. "It is an isolated case and it's one that will be a lesson learned."