AccessNOrthGeorgia.com – A house filled with propane gas was leveled in an explosion Wednesday, injuring a 24-year-old University of Georgia student.
The double-wide mobile home with a frame house built around it was reduced to rubble by the blast, which came just as Lindsey Rackett arrived home and was opening the door, said John Oxendine, state insurance and safety fire commissioner.
“The door is probably what saved her. It would have protected her from the debris,” Oxendine said. “She crawled up out of the rubble. A paramedic found her wandering around in a daze.”
Rackett was taken to St. Marys Hospital in Athens with injuries that were not life-threatening, the commissioner said.
“To my knowledge, she was the only one home,” he said.
He said the home, about 12 miles south of Athens off U.S. 441 in Oconee County, was recently remodeled, and an old LP furnace was taken out but somehow a gas line remained uncapped.
“Anything in the house could spark it,” Oxendine said.
Rackett, originally from Snellville, moved in with another UGA student less than three weeks ago, according to their landlord, Mark Farmer.
Oconee County Fire Chief Bruce Thaxton said the roommates had three dogs and two cats. One cat could not be accounted for, he said.