PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A contractor was injured when an explosion leveled a home in Hilltown, Bucks County, Monday morning. Authorities say it’s “a miracle” no one was killed, and no one else was injured.
The home at 130 Hill View Drive is a pile of rubble — a chimney rests on top of the rubble at a 30-degree angle, as insulation flutters in the breeze down from a nearby tree, like flower petals in the spring.
Steve Kendra lives on the other side of Hillview Road. He said he felt the impact around 9 a.m. when he drove down his driveway to put mail in his mailbox.
“The explosion was epic. It sounded like lightning when lightning would hit right next to you. If you've ever had that experience, where it’s just so loud, the crack was just more of a high-frequency crack.”
He said he noticed a worker who was out on the porch renovating the kitchen.
“And he was able to run through the rubble to get out to the lane on the other side, there, and I said, 'Anybody else there?’ He said, 'No, I'm the only one here. He was pretty beat up.’”
Hilltown Township Police Chief Christopher Englehart says while he doesn’t have a specific update on that worker’s condition, he is expected to survive.
“It's catastrophic as far as an explosion goes, and the damage to the house is a complete loss. So, yeah, initially you think anybody that would have been near that would have been killed, or at least lucky at this point that the person survived.”
Englehart says there is no gas line to the home, but there was a propane tank, which is central to the investigation.
“Bucks County Fire Marshal, we have State Police Fire Marshal, and we have ATF coming also to assist. They will dig into that rubble to see exactly what's going on in there and see what the source of that explosion was,” Englehart said.
