North Smithfield, RI – WLNE-TV – Authorities have determined that a gas leak from a propane tank is what caused the house explosion in North Smithfield that left two people and a dog with injuries.
Wayne Curtis suffered a broken leg in the explosion on Saturday. He says the blast lifted him and his chair ten to 12 feet in the air and sent him crashing against a wall. A woman was being treated for a crushed heel. A Labrador retriever named Milo suffered burns.
North Smithfield Fire Chief Joel Jillson credited the elderly father of the woman for saving the pair. He says the man lived next door in an in-law apartment and pulled Curtis and the woman out of the house.
Curtis says a company filled the propane tank the morning of the explosion. He says he can’t believe the couple survived.