Clinton Township, MI – Clinton Township blast and fire blamed on gas leak level house while damaging two neighboring homes, vehicles.
An early morning house explosion that injured a woman and her two children Monday was the result of a gas leak, according to investigators.
“We’ve got some type of natural gas explosion,” Clinton Township Fire Marshal Bob Smith said.
Investigators now are working to determine what caused the gas leak and subsequent fire that leveled the home in the 23000 block of East Scott.
James Howard lives across the street from the destroyed house. He said a “muffled explosion” woke him about 3:30 a.m. Monday.
When he went outside, he saw the explosion had knocked out walls and the ceiling had collapsed.
“The mother, she came over and laid on my front lawn,” said Howard, 64.
“She was smoking. She wasn’t on fire, but she was still smoking. The boy just had on his pajama bottoms and no shoes. I pulled my T-shirt off and gave that to him.”
The fire also damaged two neighboring houses — one severely — and destroyed a pickup truck and a van in the neighboring driveway.
The woman, her 8-year-old son and her 19-year-old daughter were first hospitalized at the Mount Clemens Regional Health Center before being transferred to the burn unit at Detroit Receiving.
A firefighter was treated for minor burns and released.
Smith said Monday afternoon that the woman was sedated at Detroit Receiving.
The conditions of the others was unknown.
Consumers Energy personnel checked the gas lines coming from the house and found no irregularities, said Consumers Energy spokeswoman Debra Dodd.
“Everything was fine,” Dodd said. “It leads you to believe the problem was coming from inside the house.”
Dodd said if anyone smells gas, at any time, call Consumers Energy.
“If you smell natural gas any time of the day or night, don’t wait,” she said.