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Carbon County home gutted after explosion, fire

Crews responded Tuesday morning to the place in the Towamensing Trails development in Penn Forest Township.

CARBON COUNTY, Pa. — An explosion and fire destroyed a home in Carbon County Tuesday morning.

A photo of the fire was posted on Facebook.

Fire officials say people who live several miles away felt the blast.

Vinyl siding and debris are spread across the property on Bradstreet Circle in the Towamensing Trails community in Penn Forest Township.

Trudy Kranacher was having breakfast on her porch just around the corner when she heard and felt the blast.

"All of a sudden, we just heard, 'Boom,' and like I said, I dropped my food. I didn't even know where it came from, and then I saw the fire back there."

Officials tell us no one was inside the home when it exploded just before 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

No one was hurt.

Fire crews on the scene believe a propane leak is to blame. The house had a tank that fire crews believe could have started it.

"We saw the black smoke coming up the fire was amazing. I even told my sister, she's here from Europe on vacation, I said, 'Get dressed in case the fire spreads fast.'"

Firefighters say it took them an hour to get the fire under control with the help of several departments throughout Monroe and Carbon Counties.

State police and the ATF were also called in to investigate.

Penn Forest Fire Chief David Michael says when he arrived on scene, the damage was already done.

"I found a two-story residence that had pancaked on top of each other with the back part of the residence on fire," the chief said.

A neighbor owns a vacation property just across the street from where the explosion happened.

"I just left at 9 o'clock. I just missed it, and I was on the Turnpike, and I knew I left my garage door open, and I get on the phone with Smart Life to close the garage door, and it ain't working. I open my cameras, and I ain't got no cameras. I ain't got no power."

He says that's when he got a phone call from someone down the street telling him that the house across the street exploded. So he came back to tell his neighbor that their home is gone.

"Yes, good friend, I called him right away. Called him right away, had to be the bearer of bad news."

The home next door was also damaged in the explosion.

Working Dwelling Fire due to an Explosion, Fully Involved Dists 12, 22, 17, 11, 4, 7, 16, 19 for Rehab, Monroe County...

Posted by Carbon County Emergencies and Weather on Tuesday, July 25, 2023

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