A man was hospitalized Monday after being burned in a natural gas explosion inside his house, Oklahoma City fire Battalion Chief Bobby Lax said.
Neighbors heard a loud explosion about 2:10 p.m. at 1720 E Eubanks St.
“I heard a big ol’ boom and I looked out the window and saw the side of his house was gone, next-door neighbor Raymond Cato said.
Cato said Donnell Wilson, 62, was burned in the blast. Wilson, who lives alone in the house, was walking around the back yard in a daze when Cato found him and called for help, Cato said.
Lax said the wood-frame house was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived and found the victim with burns on his face and a hand.
Wilson was in good condition at Integris Baptist Medical Center, where he was being treated overnight for second-degree burns on his face and hand, spokeswoman Brooke Cayot said.
Johnnie Swanson, who works at McKay-Davis Funeral Home just west of Wilson’s house, said the explosion was as loud as “a sonic boom.
“It was a big explosion, Swanson said.
He said other neighbors told him they smelled the odor of a natural gas leak around the house recently.
“He lost everything he had in the house, Swanson said.
Lax said investigators ruled the explosion accidental as a result of a natural gas leak in the kitchen. He did not have a damage estimate.