Houses were damaged and several people were rushed to the hospital after a home explosion in West Park early Tuesday morning.
The blast came from a home on Southwest 20th Street and 52nd Avenue. A family of four was inside, two of them children. All of them were rushed to the hospital.
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WATCH HERETheir home was reduced to rubble. People in the neighborhood ran over to help.
Neighbors spent the morning boarding up their windows and sweeping up pieces of glass.
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"I thought someone was breaking in or throwing something through my window, see, it blew out my picture window,” Billy said.
"I just saw glass everywhere, inside and outside,” Tony Dorsett said.
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James Williams said his niece Annette Brown and nephew DJ live next door to the home that exploded. Both of them also had to go to the hospital.
"I don't see but by a miracle of God because the way the house looks inside I don't see how anybody could have survived in that house,” Williams said. "I just thank God everybody is alive."
Many of Brown's family showed up at the house Tuesday, including her sister Tia Thomas.
"They were in the bed sleep, her son jumped out the window my sister was asleep and he helped her get out the back door but he had to put her over the fence — she woke up with sheet rock on her,” Thomas said. "They're going to need support and anyone who can spread love and whatever they can do to help."
Investigators say the explosion was caused by some type of gas. Renee Basulto, a certified fire and explosion investigator, said it's too early to come to a conclusion.
"There's some type of leak whether propane or natural gas that accumulates within the structure, and as soon as you have an ignition source, a spark, turning on a light switch anything that will ignite that gas concentration, that will cause the explosion,” Basulto said.
The city reached out to a structural engineer to determine if any other homes are damaged to the point where they need to red-tag the homes.
The homes on each side of the house that exploded and one on the corner are deemed unsafe. The Red Cross says it is helping six people.
Brown’s family created a GoFundMe to help with medical and rebuilding costs.
