It's now just about 9:30 on Friday night. I'm sitting in the KMOV live-truck in the Emerald Meadows subdivision in Pontoon Beach, Illinois, covering this house explosion. The photographer, Chris Stolle, is busy editing our story for the 10pm newscast.
We interviewed a woman tonight named Mary Cardwell who lives three houses down from the home that exploded. If you drove through the neighborhood you would look at the homes closer to the explosion and you can see the obvious damage. The damage to Cardwell's home is not so obvious. If you look at the bay windows in the front you'll see the caulk line is about a half-inch away from the window itself, there's a crack in the mortar between the bricks, there's a crack on the wall above the kitchen counter, a new half-inch gap between the floorboards and the French doors leading to the backyard.

The blast basically moved the home a bit on its foundation. Consider that there are two other houses in-between Cardwell's home and the house that exploded. Those homes absorbed most of the force of the blast. But it shows you the strength of this blast.

I got online to look up some more info on the dangers of natural gas. Here are some of the main culprits when it comes to natural gas build-up and explosions: Water heaters, Ovens, Dryers, Central Heating Systems, Central Cooling Systems, Space Heaters, Fireplace Logs, & Outdoor Grills.
Tonight, there are a few homes that are vacant because they've been damaged to such a degree that the owners can't stay there. For the next few days insurance agents will be busy here.

You look at this devastation and you think how fortunate it is that the owners of the home which exploded were gone and that no one was out walking the dog or even driving by the house when the gas reached its ignition point.

---