ERLANGER, Ky. — A couple and their young son were lucky to escape when three explosions and a fire ravaged their home on Locust Street Sunday night, a neighbor said.
"They were all kind of hollering, 'Oh, my god!' The little boy was screaming. They were just in shock," said Saundra Hanning, who lives across the street.
Hanning caught cell phone video (below) showing the scary moments just before fire crews got to the scene. "The windows shook. The house shook," Hanning said. "When we heard the first explosion, we ran to the door and looked out and there was just billowing smoke coming out of the garage."
This cell phone video shows the house fire on Locust St. in Erlanger, KY moments before the first fire crews arrived on scene. @ErlangerFire says there were three explosions. Investigating cause right now. Video by Saundra Hanning. @WCPO pic.twitter.com/HrdsqHu7kS
— Josh Bazan (@JoshBazan) March 4, 2019
Fire Chief Todd Whitaker said the three went to the hospital with "fairly serious" injuries - including burns and shrapnel wounds - but the injuries did not appear to be life threatening.
The cause of the explosions is under investigation.
Fire crews were lucky, too. They were there when the second and third explosions went off. But no firefighters were injured, Whitaker said. The first call of an explosion came in at 6:17 p.m., the chief said.
"It took us a little while to get control of it," Whitaker said. There was a hole on the first floor, so we had to pull the crews out and with a series of explosions at the same time, we wanted to back the crews out. It took us about an hour and a half to gain control actually, to put the fire out."
More than a dozen emergency vehicles responded.
