One killed in explosion, fire

Natural gas being blamed for house fire explosion

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BROOKINGS – A house fire and explosion claimed the life of one male Thursday, according to the Brookings Fire Department.

The fire department was called out just before noon Thursday to 618 Sixth Ave. for an explosion and active structure fire, said Fire Chief Darrell Hartmann, who was still at the scene after 5 p.m.

“It’s all under investigation at this point, but we believe it was an accident,” he said.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the state Division of Criminal Investigation, and the state fire marshal were still on scene doing the investigation, along with Brookings Police, he said.

“They investigate fires, so any time we have something like this, they come with,” Hartmann said. “All the other agencies are here for the investigation. We actually had them coming prior to us finding the victim.”

Hartmann arrived on the scene shortly after the call out.

“We did have a heavily involved structure fire. When I did my search around the building, did have a portion in the back blown free,” he said.

Because he did not know what the structural integrity of the house was, firefighters initially fought the fire from the outside.

“Once we got it pretty well under control, sent crews in all levels,” Hartmann said.

“Once we got the smoke lifted, we did find one fatality,” he said.

The person has not been identified, but Hartmann confirmed the victim was male.

“Talking to the agents, it appears we had some type of mechanical (malfunction) in the basement on the natural gas line. It started filling at least the basement structure and found an ignition source and that was the explosion and the seat of the fire,” Hartmann said.

The initial explosion was at the back of the house, he added.

About 42 firefighters were on scene; none were injured, Hartmann said. Apparatus brought to the fire included engines 1-5, ladder, tower, and rescue trucks.

Brookings Ambulance was there for support of the firefighters. Law enforcement was doing traffic control.

Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.