First responders called to deal with a suspected gas leak ran as an explosion destroyed an Illinois home and left a second fire burning to the ground.
A church was evacuated and neighbors were warned to shelter in place after the town of Woodstock was rocked by the explosion on Lincoln Avenue.
A crew from the Woodstock Fire and Rescue District arrived at 12:35 a.m. Monday to reports of gas and outside St. Mary Catholic Church and School after a contractor hit a pipe in the road.
They evacuated the church and called engineers from Nicor Gas to the scene who started work at 13:10 to fix the leak.
More than an hour later, the explosion ripped through the house across the street from the church, hurling debris across the street and setting fire to the neighboring house and a parked car.
One home was obliterated and one was nearly destroyed by the explosion that sent first responders scrambling for cover in Woodstock, Illinois
A parked car found itself at the epicenter of the blast that tore through the homes in Woodstock
Residents across town felt the blast as fire and rescue called for reinforcements from neighboring districts.
‘Please God, don’t let anyone “hide” in the house that exploded,’ Monica Tarr wrote on the department’s Facebook page.
“I live nearby and if school was in today the kids would have walked right in when they got out,” @TheCannacrat tweeted.
“We’re working on the plaza and it shook the whole building and knocked things over,” one resident told Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
‘Full or the windows are going to break. Absolutely insane. I smelled gas this morning around 10:00.’
“Had lunch at the nearby restaurant building and bottles hit the ground,” wrote Linda Smith-Lachnit.
“Husband and I smelled gas when we walked into the building.”
“Broke windows at my mom’s house on Judd,” said Kasey Lynn Zeller.
‘Really hope no one was home, or that they were evacuated!!! So scary.’
The house on Lincoln Avenue that was destroyed in the explosion (left) and the neighboring house that was burned
Firefighters were left to douse the smoldering remains of the $250,000 home
Residents across the Illinois town reported hearing and feeling the explosion from Lincoln Avenue
The nearby house was reduced to a smoking ruin after the explosion at 2.35pm
An aerial photograph captured the extent of the devastation that ripped through the leafy suburb
Debris was thrown across the road and into nearby gardens by the force of the blast
“I used to drive near there and I could smell natural gas very strongly, we felt the explosion up here on McConnell Road,” added Laura Carnivele.
“My parents live on Pleasant Street, we have been calling all summer complaining about the gas smell after they put in new lines,” Tracey Kohl wrote.
‘Nicor told us it was just residual mercaptan in the soil. They worked in front of my parents’ house again today!’
More than 140 people have been killed in gas explosions across the US and nearly 700 injured, according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration,
The regulator counted more than 2,700 gas leaks across the country that were considered serious during that time, 362 of which caused explosions.
The latest blast comes less than two months after a gas explosion destroyed NFL star Caleb Farley’s Mooresville, North Carolina home and killed his father, Robert Farley, 61.
A photo of the home, owned by the NFL and Titans star, before it collapsed
The full extent of the damage was seen through aerial footage of the property after the explosion
No injuries have been reported so far from the explosion in Woodstock, but first responders are still battling the blaze.
“The safety of the public and every family we serve is our No. 1 value,” a Nicor spokesperson said in a statement.
A third party doing work unrelated to Nicor Gas damaged a natural gas pipeline in the 200 block of North Tryon Street earlier today.
‘Nicor Gas staff remain on site and are working with first responders to secure the area safely and to assist local authorities with their investigation into this incident.’