Detroit, MI – A home in northwest Detroit was destroyed early Thursday in an explosion that fire officials believe was caused by a gas leak.
The Detroit Fire Department was alerted to the explosion, on the 20000 block of Monica south of Eight Mile and west of Livernois at about 3:35 a.m., said deputy fire commissioner Dave Fornell.
No one was hurt in the explosion or in fighting the fire, Fornell said.
Fornell said it took two hours and at least 36 firefighters to put down the fire related to the explosion. Fire officials and DTE Energy crews remained on the scene several hours after that.
At about 6:30 a.m., DTE Energy cut the natural gas line to the house, said spokeswoman Sallie Justice.
Keona Dalton, 29, lives next to the ruined house. She said she heard a boom, which sounded to her like a vehicle had run into her neighbor’s home.
Dalton then saw that her front door had been forced open and that two front and side windows on her first floor had been broken.
She wondered if she’d been the victim of a home invasion.
The explosions continued as firefighters fought the blaze, Dalton said, though smaller than the initial blast.
After the blast, her early morning involved the red and blue lights of police cars securing the scene and swarms of firefighters working to contain the damage.
Into the 7 a.m. hour, when she should’ve been headed to work in the meat department of an area grocery store, she sat on her porch, on the inside of the police tape securing the scene, and watched as investigators DTE crews jackhammered the street in front of her.
The explosion remains under investigation.