Family escapes house fire after multiple explosions rock neighborhood
One Buncombe County woman witnessed her neighbor's house fully engulfed in flames after hearing multiple explosions coming from a home on April 18.
By Marc Liverman
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BUNCOMBE COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — A Leicester woman is describing the terrifying moments she witnessed her neighbor’s house fully engulfed in flames after hearing multiple explosions coming from a home on April 18.
West Buncombe firefighters said the three residents inside the home on Mt. Carmel Road near New Leicester Highway managed to escape uninjured.
“The explosion started, and everybody just took off running,” said Laurie Gardner, who lives nearby.
Gardner said she was just a few houses away when it happened, and her husband, Stirling, was also nearby.
“I just saw the fire and then we heard an explosion, and then started running, and then the other two went off,” Gardner said.
West Buncombe Fire Chief Dennis Fagnant said a couple and one of their children were napping but were woken up by the sounds of explosions. Their other child was not home when it happened.
“They were napping and were awoken by cracking sounds, the sounds of a fire, so extremely lucky that they were awoken by the noise because it could’ve been a different outcome,” Fagnant said.
The damage to the home is so severe that the family of four is now left with nowhere to live.
Fagnant also said investigators think it started on the porch before spreading to the attic.
“They just came back from a camping trip and had a fire starter or charcoal,” he said. “There are multiple sources, so we’re not going to be able to rule which one, but we have a reasonable expectation that that is where the fire started.”
Investigators are still trying to figure out how the fire started, but they believe it was an accident and there is no indication of anything suspicious.
A friend of the family has created a GoFundMe to help them get back on their feet, those interested in helping can do so via its website.
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