Newly-Purchased Washington House Ripped Apart In Sudden Explosion

An explosion destroyed a newly-purchased house in Western Washington and damaged nearby homes Wednesday morning (November 29). Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue responded to the burning home in the 19700 block of 25th Dr. SE in Bothell, according to a social media post. Fire officials confirmed nobody was inside the house, and no one got hurt.

According to KIRO 7, the blast was so powerful that it blew the garage door off the house and sent it across the street. The force of the explosion also shattered windows of nearby houses and caused damage.

“It literally was like a bomb,” Debbie Dadula, who lives down the street, told reporters. “Literally got bookshelves knocked down.”

The situation also made things difficult for firefighters to tackle the ensuing fire.

“That’s part of the roof structure that had collapsed during the explosion,” Peter Mongillo, Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue’s PIO, explained to the news station. “You could imagine firefighters walk up and they’ve already lost one way of gaining access to fight this fire because the debris was blocking the garage.”

The new station also learned the new owners bought the recently-renovated home two days before the incident. Mongillo said the homeowners had just left to run an errand when the blast happened.

Fire investigators suspect a natural gas leak caused the explosion, but it's unclear where the leak came from or what set sparked the explosion.

“Right now they’re [fire investigators] looking at every single thing," Mongillo stated. "Fire Marshalls are upstairs looking at the stove to see if a nob was turned on and left on."