Family members say an Ellis County couple is expected to survive after their home suddenly exploded in the middle of the night.
The explosion happened on Ike Road in Waxahachie after 2 AM.
In the hours after the blast the damage was everywhere, with boards, insulation and other debris scattered out in a broad swath of devastation around the scene.
“It was just a loud bang and vibration,” said Billy Vest, a captain with the Waxahachie Fire Department. “And I can’t describe what it felt like, but I just hopped out of bed and knew something was wrong.”
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The blast woke up neighbors, including Vest who rushed to the scene.
From a distance, Vest said it looked like a car fire – and he wasn’t prepared for the damage that had been wrought upon the house.
“It’s wild, I’ve never seen a house blown apart like that,” Vest said.
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Vest told NBC 5 that an older couple lived in the home, and the woman had been thrown by the blast but was already up and moving around by the time he arrived.
Her husband was left trapped under a pile of debris.
“So we just went straight to him, and he obviously had burns, and we started trying to move him out,” Vest said. “We couldn’t let him walk because there were so many nails and stuff so we were trying to carry him out.
Both victims were hospitalized, and family members said they would have a lengthy recovery ahead of them but they were expected to survive.
As fire officials worked to investigate what caused this blast witnesses told NBC 5 they considered it a miracle.
“All I can think is God was looking over them, man, because you can look at it,” Vest said. “If it can tear that kind of stuff up, there were two human bodies in there, it’s pretty wild they survived like that.”
The Ellis County Fire Marshal’s office said it was too early to determine any possible causes of the explosion and they were moving forward with their investigation.
