Kilgore house explosion kills two after snow breaks propane line, says sheriff

KILGORE — A gas explosion at a Kilgore home killed two people Tuesday after snow reportedly broke a propane line.

Clark County Sheriff Mark McClure tells EastIdahoNews.com the explosion, at a home on 1557 Kilgore Lane, killed an 80-year-old man and his wife. Their names have not been released.

According to McClure, the couple arrived at a property on Kilgore Lane around 12 p.m. Tuesday. At 12:56 p.m., they reportedly discovered a gas leak and called the propane company to report it.

“There was a utility worker about a mile away, and at 1:06 p.m., he reported to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office that there was an explosion out on Kilgore Lane. He went to the property, as he is one of our local responders,” says McClure. “He began life-saving measures on the first victim. We got there, the house was completely engulfed, and we continued working on (the first victim).”

McClure says the explosion is believed to have been caused by snow falling off the roof and breaking the propane line that leads into the house causing the leak.

The man was found outside the home and is believed to have been blown out through a front window during the explosion.

“He was conscious when the first person got there. They had asked him if anybody else was there, and he stated that nobody else was there, but because there was an explosion and he was kind of out of it, and he had a pretty significant gash on his forehead, he probably didn’t really understand the question,” McClure says.

The Dubois/Clark County Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene, but were unable to get inside the home due to the severity of the fire.

McClure says emergency responders learned from a friend of the victims that there was a high likelihood the man’s wife was inside the home. Due to the structure being unsafe, firefighters could not search the property at that time.

“Overnight, we posted a deputy on the scene to guard it so we could go through the following day. We got the ATF fire investigator as well as the State Fire Marshall and his deputy Fire Marshals,” says McClure. “They came up and assisted with the recovery of the remains of the second victim between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. (on Wednesday.)”

Clark County Coroner Brenda Laird says they are waiting to hear back from the next of kin before releasing the names of the victims.

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