Investigators are trying to determine what led to an explosion which destroyed a Central Coast home, and damaged around ten others.
Four people were injured by the blast in Santa Maria.
The home in the 1200 block of Jackie Lane was rocked by an explosion just after noon Wednesday. All that’s left of the home where the blast occurred is the frame of its garage. The rest of the house is a massive pile of charred wood.
A stucco wall from the gutted house is on the ground, after being thrown about 100 feet. There’s debris for hundreds of feet around the blast site.
“So this is part of a wall, and part of the garage door from the house,” said Santa Maria Fire Chief Brad Dandridge.
“I’ve had 17 years of experience in the fire service, but I’ve never seen something like this,” Dandridge said as he described the destruction in the neighborhood.
Four people were hurt. One victim was in the house which exploded. The other three were in neighboring homes.
At one point, a search dog was used to comb through the wreckage for additional victims, but it was determined there was no one else inside.
Some of the neighboring homes were red tagged as unsafe for occupancy. The cause of the blast is still under investigation.
