Montello, WI – The Marquette County Sheriff’s Office is looking into the cause of an explosion that sent pieces of a Montello home into neighboring yards and its owners to the hospital.

“I just heard a loud bang and I knew it wasn’t fireworks,” said Laurie Walsh, who was in her home at the end of the block when it happened Sunday morning. “When I came outside I didn’t see any smoke or anything, but I heard somebody yelling.”

The Marquette County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call at 8:37 a.m., according to Sheriff Kim Gaffney. The caller reported an explosion at W1755 White Lake Court, about 10 miles northeast of Montello.

“It was really loud and talking with neighbors, they heard it as far as the golf course,” Walsh said.

Deputies arrived to find the two residents outside the home.

“For whatever reason, it didn’t ignite,” Gaffney said. “It’s typical of gas explosions that sometimes they ignite and sometimes they don’t. We certainly suspect some kind of a gas leak, but we’re going to determine that through interviews and some other forensic information.”

The couple was taken by emergency medical services to Divine Savior Healthcare in Portage to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

On Monday morning, caution tape surrounded the site of the explosion where the front windows had been blown out and screens lay mangled next to the mailbox. A plume of fiberglass insulation extended as far as the neighbors’ property, some still dropping out of trees.

“The White Lake area is a nice area,” Gaffney said. “It’s a gorgeous lake and it is surrounded by some full-time homes and some part-time homes; there’s a resort on the lake; there’s a golf course on the lake. So it is very much a recreational residential area.”

The damage appeared to be restricted to the single property and given an assumption that it was a gas-related explosion, Gaffney said that he didn’t think that there were any gas lines in the area that would put neighbors at risk. The Sheriff’s Office and the Montello Fire Department are investigating the cause of the explosion. There is no suspicion of foul play, Gaffney said.

“We are very fortunate there weren’t any more injuries than what there already were,” he said. “A lot of times when these types of events happen, survival rates are relatively low when people are inside the house and that’s what happened — they were inside of the house when the explosion happened.”