A 77-year-old man is dead after a home explosion that briefly shook residences in Chicago’s northwest suburbs Tuesday night.
The man whose body was pulled from the rubble was not immediately identified, and sheriff’s officials could not immediately confirm if the victim was the homeowner.
Two young children were playing basketball in the driveway several houses down when the home exploded, scattering debris over the pavement and sending the children running, according to a scene captured by a neighbor’s security camera. Though the explosion was not captured on camera, an orange glow emitted by the blast is visible.
Tiffany Koch, a neighbor, told ABC Chicago affiliate WLS that she and other neighbors tried to rescue the man in the home. Koch described hearing a boom, which some neighbors initially thought might be a tree falling, and a brief second of shaking.
“I don’t think anyone knew what was going on, we just heard a loud boom,” Koch told the station. “We instantly saw the flames, the smokes. We tried to get into the house, but the flames were too high.”
Fire investigators with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Illinois State Fire Marshal are among the agencies investigating the blast. Neither agency immediately responded to questions about the investigation Wednesday.
