Propane tank may have been cause of house explosion, investigators say

The Ohio state fire marshal's office was at the scene Monday of a house that exploded late Friday night and rocked a three-county area.

The explosion happened at 9722 South Palmer Road at Bellefontaine Road near the Clark-Montgomery county line. Authorities said there were no reports of any injuries. Fire investigators from Bethel Township in Miami County said they believe the house was unoccupied.

State fire officials took photos and picked the scene apart. They said a big indication, right now, is that a propane tank that was sitting about 20-25 feet from the house exploded.

The owner told News Center 7 that he thinks that he may have left the pilot light on to the furnace, which is something that investigators are looking into. Fire officials said the focus of their investigation will be the basement and the go from there.

The explosion and fire could be seen and heard for miles.

"There was a pow and that alerted the neighbors," said Marge Kirkpatrick. "And we looked out of our window and we could see the flames as high as the trees."

On the WHIO-TV Facebook page, one of our friends said: "It sounded like a huge bomb that went off'," I could feel it," and "We just felt the whole house shake."

The house was reportedly blown apart and burned.

A dispatcher from the fire marshal's office did not have information about the cause of the blast available.