GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (May 27, 2014) – It was a blast that shook homes in one Northeast Grand Rapids neighborhood Tuesday. Now, a home is left in pieces while neighbors say it could have been prevented.
Amazingly, no one was hurt when the home in the 900 block of N. Park Court exploded.
Investigators are working to determine the exact cause while neighbors are asking what went wrong.
The home is a total loss, only part of the garage still stands and debris was blown into neighbors’ yards.
Lauria Majchrzac called 911 Monday after smelling natural gas near her neighbor’s home. “I said, I don’t want to be responsible for someone’s house blowing up.”
“I said, ‘I smell gas’ and gave the house numbers that I smelled it in,” said Majchrzac. “(The call taker) said, ‘We’ll send a fire truck,’ and four people came, and they just were walking around smelling the gas. “A couple of neighbors came out, they sniffed around, and they left. But DTE didn’t come.”
DTE tells us they never got the call. In fact, there were no recent calls at all for service at that address.
Majchrzac said it makes her sick to think it could have all been prevented.
DTE says the gas meter was intact, which leads them to believe the explosion was caused by something like an appliance leaking in the back of the house.
Grand Rapids Fire Inspector Erik Ryder says he doesn’t have any information on what GRFD did when personnel inspected the home Monday. “I understand why they’re upset, and as soon as information comes to light, we’ll be able to share that,” Ryder said.
Neighbors called the homeowners, who were vacationing in Tennessee, to tell them the devastating news. They tell us the couple got married not too long ago and have a young child.
Fire investigators say it may take weeks to officially confirm what sparked the fire.
