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player ready...Natural gas triggered an explosion that leveled a farm rental house Saturday night in Hebron, according to investigators.
Boone Grove Fire Department Chief Mike Meinert said investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Porter County Fire Investigative Strike Team were out at the site — located at 415 S. 600W St. — on Tuesday and they determined that natural gas had caused the explosion. Meinert said they haven’t determined what ignited the explosion or how the structure came to be enriched with natural gas.
NIPSCO was called to the scene as well and they quickly cut off gas and electric service at the property.
Meinert said no one was injured in the explosion as the structure wasn’t occupied at the time, but he said it had been occupied by renters in the past.
Meinert said that there was a small fire that resulted from the explosion, but there wasn’t much of a structure left when firefighters arrived. Several nearby structures were damaged by the explosion as “there was a large amount of destruction,” he said.