House explosion shakes rural Ransom Township
RANSOM TWP. — Fire officials are working to determine the cause of an explosion that decimated a rural home in Ransom Township on Tuesday, Feb. 1.
The Wright-Waldron and Woodbridge fire departments were dispatched to a fully engulfed structure fire in the 5000 block of East Burt Road around 8 p.m. Tuesday night.
Neighbors and witnesses in the area reported that they felt an "explosion" and that a shockwave rattled windows nearby.
The homeowner was outside of the home when the explosion occurred and no injuries were reported, according to Wright-Waldron Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Barnhart.
Entire sections of the home's walls were scattered around the property, as far as 15 feet from where they once stood.
Windows from the home and smaller debris could be seen in a ditch on the other side of Burt Road (approximately 40 feet from the home) when firefighters arrived.
Barnhart, the incident commander on the scene, said that although an official determination has yet to be reached, the homeowner believed he had a gas leak from his stove.
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Barnhart said the homeowner reported smelling gas inside the home for over a week.
Mutual aid was brought in from Pioneer, Ohio, Hudson and Jefferson Township to fully extinguish the fire and conduct overhaul operations. The Hillsdale City Fire Department responded with the county's air trailer.
All firefighters had cleared from the area by 11 p.m.
— Contact Reporter Corey Murray at cmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.
This article originally appeared on Hillsdale Daily News: House explosion shakes rural Ransom Township
