Ferndale, WA – One man was injured when an explosion tore his motor home nearly in half Sunday morning, April 6 at a Ferndale mobile home park, according to firefighters.
Around 11 a.m. neighbors in the Evergreen Mobile Home Park at 6800 Enterprise Road heard a loud boom and went outside to find a 22-foot mobile home was on fire, said District No. 7 Assistant Fire Chief Larry Hoffman.
Right away, two neighbors saw the only resident was lying down inside, barely conscious, Hoffman said.
The two were able to pull the man out through a portion of the home that had “basically split in two,” Hoffman said. A medic unit was first to arrive at the scene and quickly took the man to St. Joseph hospital.
Firefighters from five engines arrived and started to put out the fire, which had become fully involved, when a 20-gallon propane tank behind the home exploded, Hoffman said. No one was injured in the second explosion.
A bank of three 5-gallon propane tanks also hooked to the home did not explode.
The residence was completely destroyed by the fire, Hoffman said.
The fire marshal’s office is still investigating the cause of the first explosion, but it appeared a propane stove inside the home may have been leaking fuel, which could have caught fire when the resident went to light a burner, Hoffman said.
Firefighters remained on scene after the fire was out so they could bleed propane out of a leaking tank that did not explode, Hoffman said.