Garden City, KS – The cause of a house explosion that killed a boy and injured two others on Saturday has been ruled a gas explosion.
“Through the investigation, it was determined that the explosion was due to a concentration of natural gas,” Garden City Fire Department Chief Allen Shelton said.
Rose Rozmiarek, chief of investigations of the Kansas Fire Marshal, said the determination came late Sunday afternoon. An investigation by the fire department and state fire marshal is still ongoing to figure out what led to the explosion.
“There is no suspicious activity at play, but it is still an open case,” Rozmiarek said.
Sheriff Kevin Bascue of the Finney County Sheriff’s Office echoed Rozmiarek saying the explosion was “nothing criminal.”
Sheriff’s deputies, EMS and the Garden City Fire Department responded to the explosion at 260 E. Plymell Road, Lot 3, just after 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The property is about 10 miles south of Garden City, just west of U.S. Highway 83, and was the home of Mike and Kelly Unruh and their two sons, Spencer, 17, and Riley, 14.
At the time of the explosion, Kelly, Spencer and Riley were in the home.
Shelton believes the family had just returned home and that the explosion happened soon after their return.
Firefighters found Spencer Unruh dead in the basement, according to Bascue. Riley and Kelly Unruh were transported by ambulance to St. Catherine Hospital and later transferred to St. Francis Hospital in Wichita. As of Monday, Riley and Kelly still remain in critical condition.
Mike Unruh, the boys’ father, was outside at the time of the explosion and was not injured.
Fireman Rick Woods was injured during the fire when he got tangled up in debris and fell down. He has since been treated and released from St. Catherine Hospital.
Firefighters arrived on the scene at 6:02 p.m. after receiving the call at 5:46 p.m., Shelton said, fighting the fire roughly 30 minutes to control and douse the flames. Shelton arrived at the residence at 7 p.m., at which time he said there was “no fire whatsoever.”
The scene of scattered debris and charred rubble was cleared at 2:30 a.m.
No part of the home was left standing.
Bascue, who lives in Garden City, said he was watching television at his home and suddenly heard a loud noise. It turned out to be the sound of the explosion, which he had heard a distance away. He received a call on his radio about one minute later about an explosion.
A home just north of the residence was heavily damaged due to its proximity to the explosion, Bascue said.