3 hurt in house explosion, police say

By Christine Sloan

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    KIAMESHA LAKE, New York (WLNY) — Police are investigating an explosion that leveled a home and injured three people in Sullivan County on Saturday.

There was just complete devastation after the blast leveled the house. As a result, two other homes on either side were also demolished.

Drone video of the scene from earlier in the day shows debris all over the place. Many neighbors told CBS New York the blast caused damage to their homes.

Incredibly, three people inside the house on James Place in Kiamesha Lake, where the explosion took place, were rescued alive, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately known.

New York State Police said the victims were an adult and two children. Neighbors said it was a man and his girlfriend’s two children, who are elementary school age. CBS New York spoke to an uncle of the children who said a 10-year-old is in stable condition with broken bones and a 6-year-old and the male victim are in critical condition at an area hospital.

Neighbors added the girlfriend was not home at the time of the explosion.

Emella Lyle was able to escape the dangerous situation.

“I was afraid. I was afraid for my life,” Lyle said.

Her home was next to the three demolished homes.

“I thought something blew up. That’s all I could think about, and when I came out there was just debris everywhere, so I just thank God that I got out,” Lyle said.

Her uncle is one of the people who rescued a man and little boy from the house where the blast took place.

Neighbors described what they saw and heard as the man and two children were pulled out.

“We seen debris everywhere. It looked like it was snowing in the street. There was just insulation was falling everywhere,” Angel Gianccone said. “We seen them. They had the two over there on the side and then we heard screams from the house, so we ran around the back of the house and we heard a little girl inside screaming and then we seen everyone go running to the back of the house and then they pulled the stretcher and we watched them pull her out and put her onto the stretcher.”

“All my cabinets were open. Everything flew out of the cabinets and off the walls. That’s how bad this was,” Lillian Ayala said. “Must have just lifted up the house and dropped it. I am here almost 30 years and I never thought anything like this would happen.”

Lyle said she’ll be staying somewhere else for now.

“They said I can go in. It’s livable. But the windows are blown out. They just boarded it up and glass is everywhere,” Lyle said.

State police said they are still investigating what happened, but right now they say it appears a propane leak caused the explosion.

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