A natural gas leak apparently caused an Arlington Heights home to explode Wednesday afternoon, sending a 79-year-old man to the hospital with second-degree burns, authorities said.
Frank Uyekawa was airlifted to the burn unit at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, authorities said. He remained in serious condition late Wednesday with burns to his hands and face, a nursing supervisor said.
When emergency crews arrived at 318 N. Dryden Pl., they saw a dazed Uyekawa standing in front of his destroyed ranch-style house, Arlington Heights Fire Chief Bruce Rodewald said. No one else was at home, he said.
Rodewald said the man had been watching television when he smelled gas. Seconds later, a blast ripped through the house, tearing off the roof and several exterior walls.
“It’s a mystery how he got out of the house,” Rodewald said. “He’s a very fortunate individual.”
Officials said Uyekawa, his wife and their grown son lived in the home.
The brick and wood-frame home was burned nearly to the ground, said Arlington Heights Police Sgt. Richard Kappelman. All that was left was a portion of the front and back walls.
A home directly south of the burned house was slightly damaged, police said.
Nearly two hours after the blaze was extinguished, the remains continued to smolder.
Dryden Place was blocked off to traffic for several hours because firefighters needed a portion of the street for equipment.
Commonwealth Edison and Northern Illinois Gas Co. employees surveyed the scene and checked for hazardous utility connections once the blaze was extinguished.
Neighbors said the blast shook their homes, and some said they saw the smoke from a mile away.
Travis Strong, 20, who lives a block from where the explosion occurred, said, “I was sitting watching TV and then, suddenly, the whole house shook. We thought it was our house that blew up because it was so close.”
Like dozens of nearby residents, Strong and his father raced outside of their homes to see what happened.
The woman who summoned police by calling 911 told authorities she had been washing dishes in her kitchen, looking over at the house, when it exploded.
Strong said when crews arrived, flames had engulfed the house and a nearby pine tree.
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“You could see the flames from my house,” he said.
Pam Valentino, who lives a block away on Brighton Place, was in her basement working on a computer when she heard the blast.
“I thought something had crashed into the house,” Valentino said. “Then I smelled the smoke and went outside to see. Flames were shooting up 30 feet. You could see everyone coming out of their houses and looking around frantically.”
Ann Siebert, 82, who lives two houses south and across the street from Uyekawa’s house said, “The boom was really fantastic.
“I was sitting in the front room when I heard this terrible boom. I looked around and I heard glass cracking.”