1 DEAD, 1 HURT IN APPARENT EXPLOSION, FIRE IN MUNDELEIN, CHICAGO

1 Dead, 1 Hurt In Apparent Explosion, Fire In Mundelein, CHICAGO

January 2, 2015 12:39 PM

Firefighters battled a blaze at a home in Mundelein, after an apparent explosion around noon on Friday. (Credit: CBS)

Updated 01/02/15 – 2:33 p.m.

CHICAGO (CBS) – At least one person was killed, and another was injured, in an apparent explosion and fire in north suburban Mundelein.

Crews responded to the fire shortly after noon Friday at Killarney Pass Drive and Highland Road in the Loch Lomond subdivision in Mundelein.

Neighbors reported hearing two loud booms, and said the blast was powerful enough to knock items off shelves and walls.

One person died, and at least one other was taken to a hospital.

Neighbors said a man lives in the house with his two children and their grandmother, but it was not immediately clear who was killed and who was injured.

The house had been listed for sale before the explosion.

UPDATE





One person died and another was injured after a home exploded in the 900 block of Killarney Pass Drive in Mundelein Friday, according to Mundelein Fire Chief Tim Sashko.



Fire officials responded to the home in the Loch Lomond subdivision around 11:30 a.m. after 30 residents called about a possible explosion. The blast originated from the garage behind the house, Sashko said, but fire officials did not yet know what happened.

The Lake County Coroner’s office said the deceased is a man. The coroner’s office has not released the identity because the person needed to identify the deceased is hospitalized, coroner’s officials said.

Scenes from a house explosion and fire on the 900 block of Killarney Pass Drive in Mundelein Friday, Jan. 2, 2015 (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune)

An autopsy is planned for Monday morning, said Deputy Chief Coroner Orlando Portillo.



Mundelein Deputy Police Chief Don Hansen said the investigation into the source of the fire is continuing and they have neither confirmed the cause nor ruled anything out. He expects investigators to be on the scene until late Friday night

As the building fell to pieces Friday afternoon, firefighters struggled to reach the inner areas that were still ablaze. Several trucks and cars from North Shore Gas were on scene, as well as 12 fire departments comprising 89 firefighters. Midlothian Road near Fremont Library was also shut down to all traffic.

When the explosion happened,  Mundelein Deputy Fire Marshal Mark Gaunky said he heard two loud booms in his office at the fire station, less than a mile away from the subdivision.

Neighboring houses also experienced damages from the explosion.

“By the time we arrived the building was too far gone for us to get in there,” he said.

It was just huge. The whole house shook, the ground shook, everything. - Randy Sheehan

Melanie Lahey, who lives on Killarney Pass Drive, said the explosion was the loudest thing she had ever heard.
"There was a huge, huge boom that made our doors shake in their frames. Then there was another boom," Lahey said. "Honestly, I thought we were getting bombed. My husband grabbed me and the kids and we huddled in our bedroom."

Although authorities have not identified the residents of the home that exploded, Lahey said two men in their early 20s live there, and that their father sometimes stays there.
Randy Sheehan said he lives about three blocks from the fire and heard two explosions, a few seconds apart.

“The wife and I jumped off the couch and went outside. We thought something had hit the house,” he said. “It was just huge. The whole house shook, the ground shook, everything.”

Other neighbors also were outside, looking to see what had happened, Sheehan said.

“You could see two white plumes from the explosion, and then you saw the black smoke come up,” Sheehan said.

About a half-mile away from the explosion, Lori Rendall of Mundelein said she also thought something had hit her home.

 “I heard a loud boom and the windows kind of rattled, and I just stopped for a minute,” she said.
“I am always hyper-aware and empathetic of these situations because I lost everything in a house fire,” Rendall said. “It’s heartbreaking to know somebody's family right now is really struggling.”