type='node' cid='432535' />A married couple were taken to a hospital in critical condition after an apparent gas explosion leveled their Southwest Side house Sunday morning.
The 1-story bungalow in the 6600 block of South Keating Avenue in the West Lawn neighborhood exploded about 6:30 a.m., according to police and fire authorities.
A woman in her 50s and a man in his 40s were inside the home at the time and suffered second-degree burns. They were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition, according to Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford.
Langford was not sure if they got out themselves or if firefighters rescued them. They were seen with their clothing "hanging off them," said Langford. "They were obviously burned."
Fire and emergency authorities on the scene identified the couple as Oyola and Pedro Sepulveda. Oyola is 46 and her husband 61, officials said. Oyola suffered cuts and heat exhaustion while her husband suffered serious burns.
A third person, a male who was also inside the home, took himself to a hospital, likely Holy Cross Hospital, said Langford. It was not known immediately what injuries he suffered or if he is a member of the Sepulveda family.
A firefighter was also among those hospitalized. He suffered a minor injury to his hand and was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, said Langford. An 80-year-old woman was in a home next door but was not hurt.
Peoples Gas spokeswoman Bonnie Johnson said they were waiting for the OK from the fire department so that they can go onto the property to investigate what occurred. Gas has been shut off from the 6400 to the 6700 block of South Keating Avenue on the west side of the street, according to Johnson.
Next door neighbor Doreetha Wheatley, 38, was at home with her husband and four other children when they heard the blast and their house started burning.
"We were woken by an explosion," Wheatley said. "It shattered the windows on the side of the house." Dining room and possibly kitchen windows could be seen broken out.
"We went to the window and saw the neighbor's house had collapsed." Wheatley said.
Wheatley said all six members of her family had to climb out a front window because the door was engulfed in flames.
A neighbor who lives across the street, Rudy Venegas, 53, became emotional when remembering that he saw a man believed to be Mr. Sepulveda running away from the house shortly after the explosion.
"He was smoldering," said Venegas, tearing up. "I couldn't touch him,'' said Venegas. "I told him to lie down.''
Venegas said he helped his elderly neighbor who was "hysterical and screaming" and took her to his home.
Venegas said the explosion was so loud it "knocked him out of bed."
"It was a huge explosion. I thought a plane came down," Venegas said.
"I'm looking out the window and the roof went straight up and came straight down," he said.
Neighbors believed the couple's two small dogs perished.
"It looks like a gas explosion," said Langford early this morning, noting that there was still a "smell of gas in the area."
Langford also said that, as of 8 a.m., there was no immediate danger and no evacuations were under way.
Though it is believed everyone inside the house is accounted for, firefighters were prepared to enter the rubble to do a complete search. The roof of the exploded home was about 2-feet off the ground. "A portion of it is still intact," Langford said.
The homes next door were badly damaged by fire.
Langford said an EMS Plan I, which automatically sends at least five ambulances to the scene, was enacted as a precaution and firefighters elevated the fire to an extra-alarm when they arrived on the scene.
Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said officers were working with the fire department to cordon off the area and assist.
"It's a tragedy," Venegas said.
McClatchy-Tribune New Service
