Murray, KY – A two-day investigation into a Sunday night house explosion northeast of Murray concluded Wednesday.
Bill Compton, an investigator with the Kentucky State Fire Marshal’s Office, said he will submit a report from that investigation in coming days.
Calloway County Fire-Rescue Chief Tommy Morgan did say Wednesday that it appears the explosion was triggered because of some type of issue with the house’s propane gas system.
Morgan officially identified a man injured in the explosion as Jackie Herndon, the owner of a house at 687 Bethel Road. Morgan said Herndon was taken by ambulance to Murray-Calloway County Hospital shortly after the explosion happened at about 10:30 Sunday night, then was airlifted to Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee.
A Vanderbilt spokesperson said Wednesday that Herndon was listed in critical but stable condition.
“We’re not sure what exactly happened with the propane (which is connected to tanks outside of the house). However, what we do know is that the explosion originated from inside the house. It was not the tanks exploding outside,” Morgan said, adding that the investigation found that at least one 20-pound propane tank was present outside of the house and, while it did actually catch fire, it did not explode.
“These kinds of tanks are designed not explode, rather they’re supposed to do what is called bleed out. You can still get a flame to form from the opening, and that’s what happened with this. It actually looked like a blow torch, but it did not explode.”
Neighbors have reported hearing multiple explosions at the time the incident was reported Sunday night, with one saying he witnessed explosions after the resulting fire had begun consuming the structure. Large window frames and numerous other pieces of debris from the house were lying strewn throughout the property Wednesday, having been hurled several yards away from where the house had stood.
This marks the third house explosion to which CCFR has responded the past two years. In April 2013, a homeowner escaped injury when an explosion happened in the east portion of the county; Morgan said methane gas buildup caused that incident.
The other came in September 2013 near Coldwater and eventually claimed the lives of two people. A leak in a gas line that ran beneath the house was seen as the cause of that incident that also injured three people.