Peoria County, IL — Chillicothe Fire Chief Marvin Roderick said he is 95 percent certain that a propane gas leak caused a home near Chillicothe to explode Tuesday afternoon.
Small flames and smoke continued to rise from the explosion site Wednesday afternoon. The only part of the home still standing was the chimney.
Investigators have yet to determine where the gas leak came from.
“Our investigators are going out with insurance investigators to take a closer look at it and may send some things off to labs to make sure that’s the cause,” said Roderick.
One thing the Chief does know for sure is that the two residents and two HAVC workers who were in the home at the time of the explosion, are lucky to be alive.
“It’s amazing those people got out, when I got there it was fully invovled, and I don’t know how they got out of the house so fast, but I’m glad they did,” said the chief.
An employee with Griffin HVAC of Creve Coeur was installing a furnace when the explosion happened. The company’s owner says the 21-year-old technician is in the hospital recovering.
“He is doing fine, still in the hospital with second degree burns on his hands and first degree burns on his face, despite his injuries, he is in good spirits,” said Doug Ingersoll.
The other technician, along with the two residents were able to escape unharmed.