Elwood Siding, MO – Firefighters say a propane leak led to an explosion that destroyed a home about five miles west of Springfield on Wednesday afternoon. The home was on Farm Road 89 just north of Missouri 266 (Chestnut Expressway).
Nobody was inside the home. Investigators say the owner of the home had been working on the propane tank recently. They believed it leaked and something ignited it, causing the explosion. They said it appears about 30 to 40 gallons of propane leaked. The home was about 1,600 square feet.
The owner of the home says he and his wife lived there for 32 years. He said he was pulling into the driveway when it exploded; he said he would have been inside in just two minutes. His wife was about five minutes away. He said it was the loudest boom he had ever heard.
The family was visibly shaken as they looked at the wreckage. It was an emotional and devastating scene.
One neighbor said he heard the boom from inside his house across the road. Of course, he ran out to help his neighbor. Brooks Milioni said he’s been in combat in Afghanistan and the sound of that boom was just all-too-familiar to him.
“It sounded like a IED (improvised explosive device) going off. It was pretty scary. i was about half asleep and so i didn’t know if I was dreaming or if I was awake, and I woke up and couldn’t believe it. I just ran outside and kept running over here until i got here. It was crazy,” said Milioni.
Several fire departments, including Brookline, Willard, Ash Grove, and Bois D’arc — sent crews to the scene. Brookline is the lead department. Its fire chief says, in nearly 40 years of fighting fires, this is the worst propane explosion he has seen.
This explosion was heard and felt miles away from this house. Some people explained it as a boom like they had never heard before.
So, obviously this family has a lot of cleaning up to do. They are either going to stay with family or get some help from the American Red Cross on Wednesday night.