PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. —
An explosion inside a Port St. Lucie home destroyed almost everything owned by a family of four.
According to the St. Lucie County Fire District, the initial call came in at 1:24 p.m. for a fire at a home in the 100 block of Carmelite Street Friday afternoon.
Neighbors called 911 after noticing the home was on fire.
“I looked, and there was all kinds of smoke going through the yard,” said neighbor Rob Roadman.
“I was outside in the backyard, and then I see very heavy smoke,” said Marina Cheong, who lives a few doors down.
Cheong said she ran toward the home to help but was stopped by the explosion.
“And then there was [an] explosion, very loud, loud explosion, and debris started flying everywhere,” she said.
“I heard a huge explosion. At first, I thought maybe it’s a transformer or something, but it was much, much, much louder than that,” Roadman said.
Neighbors said the man who lives in the home told them he had been cooking when a grease fire started in the garage, where the propane tank was located.
The explosion sent the propane tank flying out of the garage, across the street, and into the garage of a neighbor’s home.
“I thought it was an air raid. It was loud. It was not a casual thing. My house shook,” Roadman said.
“I thought that the whole house had exploded. It was very loud,” Cheong added.
Roadman said he spoke to the man shortly after the explosion.
“I asked the dad if he was OK, and he goes, ‘Yeah.’ But you could tell he wasn’t. He was shaken. Of course. Who wouldn’t be?” Roadman said.
The man was briefly hospitalized but returned to the house a few hours later to join family and friends in going through the debris to see what could be salvaged.
They said there wasn’t much left.
However, a family member told WPBF 25 News that they consider themselves lucky that nobody was seriously injured.
She said the family has a strong community and a strong church to help them persevere.
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