Georgetown Firefighters were back on the scene today of last night’s massive explosion that destroyed a home on that city’s south side. They were joined by I & I Fire Investigators and the Illinois State Fire Marshals Office as they conducted a secondary search of the scene on Old Dam Road. They were also looking for a possible cause of the blast.
{The blast leveled this home Thursday night.}
Assistant Georgetown Fire Chief John Roberts described what firefighters found when they got on the scene last night….
Audio Player{‘’When we got here we could see a large amount of flames through the trees. And then when we got up to the residence we noticed that it was a house – or what used to be a house. As you can see the debris is scattered all over from the large explosion,’’ said Roberts. ‘’Our main concern was we could hear and smell a large amount of gas still going to the residence. So before we could even make entry we had to shut the gas off and make sure the power was off.’’}
The explosion was heard – or felt – by citizens as far away as Chrisman and Fairmount, about ten miles from the scene. The home was vacant, but firefighters returned to the scene today to search through the rubble in a secondary search.
{Debris from the explosion landed in some nearby trees.}
Georgetown Firefighters were joined last night by units from Westville, Ridge Farm, Chrisman and Tilton. Roberts says it was tough to reach the scene….
Audio Player{‘’Our main problem was the general public. Everybody heard the explosion and they wanted to get in here and see what exactly was going on,’’ said Roberts. ‘’So it was hard for our trucks to actually get down the road and just get on the scene.’’}
{Some of the debris landed in a nearby wooded area.}
There were no injuries but some neighboring homes suffered damage.
Windows were blown out and at least two other homes near the scene of the explosion were damaged.
