LAKEVIEW, Mich. -- A couple in Montcalm County is picking up the pieces after their home exploded.
Rachel Bucholtz woke up Wednesday morning excited for her first day at her new job as Kindergarten teacher; a few moments later, her house exploded, then burned. Everything she and her husband had in the house is gone; the garage is the only part still standing.
Their neighbor, and uncle, Ronald Inman heard a loud bang just after 6 a.m. "We come out and looked over here at my nephew's place and we could see that there was trouble over here."
Fire and rescue crews were called to the 8000 block of Vining Road in Lakeview. When they arrived, the house was engulfed in flames. Maple Valley and Lakeview District Fire Department had the fire knocked out in about an hour.
Now, cleanup begins. Pieces of glass are scattered through the singed grass. Window frames blown out. A heavy concrete planter, tossed from the front porch.
"My wife found a bath towel and a bath towel holder on the corner which is probably about 200 yards away," says Inman.
He says Rachel was in the shower, and her husband, Brian Bucholtz, was still in bed when the house exploded and the second story came crashing down. "Brian got up and the ceiling had been already caved into the bedroom, and he hit his head," explains Inman. He says Brian wasn't sure which direction he was facing until he saw the Red Maple tree in the front yard.
Then, he heard his wife scream and waded through the rubble to find her. Rachel was wedged between the shower door and the second floor that crashed on top of her, but Brian pulled her out and carried her to safety.
When Lakeview Assistant Fire Chief, Chris Bunker, arrived on the scene, he feared the worst. "I expected that we would be doing a body recovery," he says. "(I) was very excited to find out they were both out of the house, I couldn't believe it."
Brian was treated and released from the hospital with cuts on the bottom of his feet. Amazingly, his wife, Rachel, was unharmed. Even their three dogs made it out alive.
"We've got our lives, the rest we can replace," Bucholtz says as he takes a break from his crutches. "The things that we can be thankful for is that the house is so far away from the barn so we still got the hay that we put up for our animals to make it through winter."
A steady stream of friends and family showed up to comfort the couple, bring them clothes, food, and celebrate the fact that they're still here.
Inman says, "(Brian and Rachel) are pretty glad to be alive, but they're pretty upset that they lost their house."
Their 150-year-old centennial farmhouse has been in the family for 4 generations. Now, it's reduced to charred rubble.
Fire officials are still investigating. "We're thinking it's gas but we're not really sure," explains Bunker. "The hot water heater was electric, so we haven't determined the source of the gas or what ignited it."
Ironically, the two fire departments used the couple's house for a mock fire and training drill earlier this month.
Bucholtz smiles and says, "I (told the firefighters) 'hopefully I'll never see you guys here,' but little did we know two weeks later..."
He shakes his head in silence.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
