A family moving into a new rental home barely had time to finish unpacking their belongings when a basement gas explosion condemned the New York property.
Fire department officials in Sullivan County rushed to the Monticello home around 11 p.m. Saturday for reports of an explosion on Emily Street. Crews found the home’s foundation in pieces, as well as windows and doors blown out of the structure.
Nine people, and two pets, inside the home at the time all managed to get out alive. One person did require hospitalization for burns, but the extent of his injuries wasn’t immediately known.
“The gas line had started leaking and had filled the basement up with gas and then exploded,” Jon Wells, assistant chief of the Monticello Fire Department, said.
Wells said the house was heated by propane. Two 100-gallon tanks were found in the back of the home, but officials did not know how full the tanks were before the blast.
“I was laying down and all of a sudden the whole house went boom and shook. [We] ran out the door,” Harold Ronk said from outside the crumbling home.
The damage dealt to the home forced inspectors to condemn the property finding it unsafe.
From the outside, the house is still standing and its not immediately clear that it suffered irreparable damage. But inside, officials said collapsed walls and ceilings now bury much of the family’s boxed up possessions.
“About an hour ago we were moving stuff in. Now we can’t get our stuff out because it’s condemned,” Ronk said.
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