Propane leak to blame for house explosion
EASTON, Wash. - Investigators believe a propane gas leak is to blame for the explosion that destroyed a house in the Kachess Lake area of Kittitas County on Saturday night.
No one was injured and no one was home at the time of the explosion, which occurred around 7:15 p.m.
Nearby neighbors said the blast was similar to an earthquake, and was heard and seen more than a mile away.
"I thought something had hit a house and pretty hard, because it was a big boom and it was a significant shudder," said Brandon Ringeon, a neighbor.
When firefighters arrived at the house on Mountain Home Lane they found that the home had been leveled and debris strewn around the area.
District 8 Fire Chief Monty Moore said the home's garage doors had been blown across the road more than 40 feet away.
The house wasn't on fire when the first firefighters arrived, but they noticed a heavy propane smell and flames then quickly engulfed the house.
Monroe believes that propane smell pinpoints the cause of the explosion.
"We're thinking at this time that there was a propane leak inside the residence that built up, pressurized, and just exploded almost like a bomb had set off inside it," he said.
Several additional fire departments were called to assist, but the home was a total loss. Monroe said the 3,000-square-foot house was located on a steep snowy hill, and that firefighters had to lay about 1,400 feet of hose to get water to the fire.
The home was valued at more than $700,000.
The blaze is the area's second house fire in three weeks believed to be caused by a propane gas leak.
"There have been numerous incidents in the county this year where regulators are failing and houses are filling up with propane gas, or the area around the house is filling up with propane gas," Monroe said.
Investigators are now looking into whether the cold snowy weather is triggering a problem in sound regulators or whether a defective batch of regulators was distributed in the area.
In the meantime, Monroe urges homeowners to take measures to prevent propane gas leaks.
"What we'd recommend is to keep the snow, keep things off of the regulator so that it doesn't have a chance of things building up on it, breaking them off," he said.
"Depending on what your heat source is, it'd probably be a good idea if you can access your tank to shut your tanks off when you leave."
No one was injured and no one was home at the time of the explosion, which occurred around 7:15 p.m.
Nearby neighbors said the blast was similar to an earthquake, and was heard and seen more than a mile away.
"I thought something had hit a house and pretty hard, because it was a big boom and it was a significant shudder," said Brandon Ringeon, a neighbor.
When firefighters arrived at the house on Mountain Home Lane they found that the home had been leveled and debris strewn around the area.
District 8 Fire Chief Monty Moore said the home's garage doors had been blown across the road more than 40 feet away.
The house wasn't on fire when the first firefighters arrived, but they noticed a heavy propane smell and flames then quickly engulfed the house.
Monroe believes that propane smell pinpoints the cause of the explosion.
"We're thinking at this time that there was a propane leak inside the residence that built up, pressurized, and just exploded almost like a bomb had set off inside it," he said.
Several additional fire departments were called to assist, but the home was a total loss. Monroe said the 3,000-square-foot house was located on a steep snowy hill, and that firefighters had to lay about 1,400 feet of hose to get water to the fire.
The home was valued at more than $700,000.
The blaze is the area's second house fire in three weeks believed to be caused by a propane gas leak.
"There have been numerous incidents in the county this year where regulators are failing and houses are filling up with propane gas, or the area around the house is filling up with propane gas," Monroe said.
Investigators are now looking into whether the cold snowy weather is triggering a problem in sound regulators or whether a defective batch of regulators was distributed in the area.
In the meantime, Monroe urges homeowners to take measures to prevent propane gas leaks.
"What we'd recommend is to keep the snow, keep things off of the regulator so that it doesn't have a chance of things building up on it, breaking them off," he said.
"Depending on what your heat source is, it'd probably be a good idea if you can access your tank to shut your tanks off when you leave."
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