Blast Levels House with Firefighters, Owner Inside

MONROE TOWNSHIP - An explosion shattered the quiet of this rural area just south of Conneaut Sunday morning, leaving the owner shaken and leveling his two-story frame home.

Four Monroe Township volunteer firefighters who responded to a call were also in the house or just exiting, but were uninjured, authorities said.

Terry Atkinson, 5684 Furnace Road, called firefighters about 5:30 a.m. after he had shut off all the utilities when he smelled the gas. But the odor remained very strong, said Monroe Volunteer Fire Department Chief Howard Tuttle.

The five men entered the house to find the gas source, said Tuttle. After checking to be sure the gas was off, Tuttle and another firefighter headed outside. The owner and two other firefighters stayed inside to open the windows to let the gas clear.

"I just walked out of the house to check the gas line with Chief Tuttle," said firefighter Jason Coy. "We were walking and the next thing I knew I was picking myself up off the ground."

Firefighter Brandon Albright, who was still inside, said, "All of a sudden I heard an explosion and I was on the floor." Albright said Atkinson fell through the floor and ended up in the basement, but the three inside got to where the east wall of the house used to be. The overhead roof outside the room had fallen to the ground with the blast and the three had to crawl out over it to exit the house.

Three sides of the first floor were blown out and the floor was missing large sections. The second floor remained in place, but only for minutes. Natural gas from a well on the property continued to flow into the basement, feeding flames which engulfed the home as calls went out to neighboring emergency crews. Atkinson was taken to UHHS- Brown Memorial Hospital as a precaution since he just returned home three weeks ago after a heart attack.

Firefighters responded from Albion, Pa., Conneaut and Pierpont, in addition to two more crews from Monroe Township, an estimated 38 emergency workers in all, said Tuttle.

"It was hectic getting there because of the weather," he said, "but the county plowed and salted the roads and that helped out."

Neighbors shut off the gas well soon after the explosion, but the fueled flames had engulfed the two-story side of the farmhouse by then, said Tuttle. It then took until 11 a.m. to clear the scene.

About 4 p.m., Monroe firefighters returned to the home to douse several hot spots in the debris that had begun to smoke. By then the only thing left of the two story side of the house was a few charred, skeletal remains of framing. The single story side of the house was standing, at least the three remaining walls were, but was damaged well beyond repair.