St. Paul, MN – The one block on Payne Avenue in St. Paul where the house explosion took place was quiet Saturday morning, as residents from the block have been displaced from their condemned homes.
However, that did not stop several onlookers from coming by to see what was left behind in the explosion.
“Stunned,” Mary Mingo said. “How could this happen?”
Mingo said she drove by the house every day on the way to and back from work. She had a hard time finding the words to describe what she saw.
“I’m shocked and I’m just in awe,” Mingo said. “It’s just sad.”
In the rubble, some surviving personal items were strewn about.
“It’s a tragedy,” Jimmy Manteuffel said. Manteuffel is a Commercial HVAC Systems professor at Dunwoody College. “The fortunate thing is– well someone did get hurt, but from what I understand, someone could have been killed and it could have been far worse.”
As an HVAC systems professor and as a retired City of Minneapolis pipe fitter, Manteuffel said the explosion is rare but not unusual. He said it serves as a reminder of the hazards when it comes to gas.
“As you look at this, it’s an awareness of the dangers and the potential that is with natural gas,” Manteuffel said.
The 80-year-old homeowner was still listed in critical condition at last check with the hospital. The family declined to comment for the story.
The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.