Jefferson Co., IL – A Jefferson county husband and wife were blasted out of bed in the middle of the night.
An apparent gas leak caused an explosion at Jasen and Amber Shehorn’s home near Miller Lake just outside Mt. Vernon early Thursday morning.
Both survived without serious injury but the house where Jasen Shehorn grew up is total loss.
“Water collects under the house and I just thought it was a moldy mildew smell,” Shehorn explained. His wife noticed the odor before she went to bed.
What they smelled was propane.
“[I] didn’t really think no more about it until a little bit after 4 [a.m.] and I kind of remember the concussion of the explosion going off and then her screaming my name,” Shehorn said.
One who saw the wreckage might find it hard to believe anyone got out of this house OK. The couple managed to escape through the bedroom window. A dresser prevented the roof from completely caving in.
“I kind of remember climbing out of the house,” Shehorn said. “I was trying to help her get out of the house. I was trying to run around to get in the car to go up to my mom and dad’s house.”
He says firefighters explained that propane had settled under the house. They called it a flash blast. It lifted the house and blew out the walls.
The Shehorn’s know if they’d been sleeping anywhere else, they would have been crushed. He has a black eye and some gashes on his face. She is suffering from back pain but overall, “We feel extremely lucky,” Jason Shehorn said.
A Jefferson County firefighter told News Three not only are the Shehorns lucky they weren’t crushed it’s a wonder the house didn’t go up in flames. He said that often happens after blasts like the ones the couple survived.