Enderlin, ND – The Forum – An explosion believed to have been caused by a propane leak blew the entire north side off a house here, authorities said.
The Enderlin and Leonard fire departments responded to the blaze shortly after 8 p.m. on Friday and knocked down the flames in about 15 minutes, Cass County Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Lien said. Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading to a garage and grain bins nearby.
No one was injured.
The blast hurled the entire north wall of the house into a grove of trees about 25 feet away, Lien said.
“It was a pretty substantial explosion,” he said. “There was no saving that structure. It was a complete loss.”
A propane furnace that was heating the house for maintenance purposes may have sparked the fire, Lien said. A state fire marshal will investigate.
No one was living in the single-story house. It was used as housing for farm workers during the summer, Lien said.