Tallmadge Twp. house leveled by explosion

Sat, Oct 3, 2009    to del.icio.us

TALLMADGE TOWNSHIP — Investigators suspect a gas leak caused a house explosion that could be felt and heard for miles Friday afternoon in Tallmadge Township, about 4 miles south of Marne.

"Nothing around here could describe it," said neighbor Bob Kelly. "Being in the army, those kind of experiences maybe ..."

The debris from the explosion at 10543 Eighth Avenue, near Lake Michigan Drive, looked like a war zone.

"We had dispatched information that it was an explosion, but not to the degree that we see here," Tallmadge-Wright Fire Chief Al Brouwer said.

The owner of the house told WZZM-TV the one-story two-bedroom house was vacated by a renter in the last two days.

"We're trying to determine if he had something hooked up to gas that he had taken with him, and either the valve leaked or didn't get shut off," Brouwer said. "Once the gas builds up and the furnace kicks on, it ignites and you see what you have here."

A couple passing by in their car, heading north at the time of the explosion, said the house's door blew over their vehicle and landed on the other side of the street.

Sgt. Bob Ruster of the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department said there was minor damage to a neighbor's home to the south, but there were no reported injuries.

— From WZZM-TV and Tribune reports