5 injured when natural gas explosion destroys Castle Rock home
Fire chief: 4 children crawled out of rubble
Posted: 10/12/2012
Last Updated:
223 days ago
DENVER - Five people were injured in a natural gas explosion that destroyed a Castle Rock home Friday morning.
A mother and her four children were inside the home in the 6900 block of Sulfur Lane when it exploded around 7:15 a.m.
Firefighters evacuated the mother, said Castle Rock fire chief Art Morales.
The four children were able to get out of the home on their own. Morales said they "rode the collapse down and they climbed out their window and walked out."
All five suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Morales said.
The home was completely destroyed. Images from AIRTRACKER7 showed a pile of rubble where the two-story home once stood.
Houses on either side were also damaged and had to be evacuated because their exterior walls were buckled, Morales said.
About 20 residents in the area have been evacuated while the scene is cleaned up. Natural gas has been cut off to the neighborhood.
"We are suspecting that this was a natural gas explosion," Morales said.
Mike Cox lives two blocks away and told 7NEWS the explosion sounded "like a plane landed on our roof."
Cox and three other neighbors ran to the home just after the explosion and helped the four children escape.
"There were nails everywhere," and the children were cutting their feet trying to walk out, Cox said.
"It's just gone. The house is completely gone. I can't believe anyone walked out of there," Cox said.
The area is about four miles to the northeast of the Outlets at Castle Rock.
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