Jan 12, 2008 6:43 pm US/Central
Hole In Gas Line To Blame For Home Explosion
(WCCO)
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It was too dangerous for firefighters to go into the home, because the fire was so strong, so they fought it from the outside.
CBS
Friday night, there was an
explosion so strong that it shook homes next door, rattled nerves, and nearly
leveled a home.
After going through
debris, and taking a look at the natural gas lines, investigators think they
know why the explosion happened.
Saturday afternoon, they found a hole, about an
eighth-inch big, in the natural gas line that leads into the gas meter at the
home in Laketown Township,
southwest of the Twin Cities, outside Waconia,
Minn.
They believe the hole had been there weeks, because
the soil around it was so dry.
An investigator with the State Fire Marshall's
office, along with other local ones, spent the day Saturday at the home on Lennis Avenue.
Neighbors won't soon forget the explosion Friday
night.
"The house just
shook. It was like a meteor had landed in
the backyard. It was just really loud,"
said Judy Ziems.
"It took about three
hours for my heart to finally settle down. I called 911, and I very frantically
said, 'the house next door exploded.'"
It was too dangerous for firefighters to go
into the home, because the fire was so strong, so they fought it from the
outside.
The man who owns it was not in it at the time
and no one else was hurt in the explosion either.
Investigators believe natural gas leaked out of
that hole and seeped through the soil and into the home through an opening near
the fireplace.
Something ignited it and the place blew just
after 9 o'clock Friday night.
Investigators said the owner did smell gas
before he left the home earlier in the night.
He got a new furnace just last week, but
investigators don't believe that had anything to do with the explosion.
CenterPoint Energy tested the ground throughout
the neighborhood for any more leaks but didn't find any.
It's some assurance for Ziems and other neighbors,
after a night unlike any other before.
"I think it' s a really bad explosion, and
I'd just assume not go through it again, thank you," she said.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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