A House Explosion in Hopkins Leaves Two Dead
At about 10:15 am on Wednesday, July 27th, fire and rescue responded to the reports of a blast rattling the neighborhood around 2nd block of 21st Avenue North. According to reports when firefighters arrived, the house was swallowed by flames.
According to an MPR article on the incident, “Hopkins Fire Chief Dale Specken said investigators are still trying to determine the cause.” It is also noted that crews from CenterPoint Energy did not find any gas leaks elsewhere in the neighborhood, indicating that the problem was isolated.
MPR had the chance to interview neighbor Jeff Mock, who lives right next door. He stated that he “was home and heard the explosion. It shook the whole house and knocked stuff off the walls," and then continued to say he didn’t know what had exactly happened until he looked out the window.
At first when the explosion occurred and when rescue came to the scene it was thought that no one was harmed. However, according to an article from Bring Me The News, Dale Specken said there was a husband and wife believed to be aged in their 80s taken out of the home by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner. As of right now, their identities have not been released.
Specken had also stated “the home was completely collapsed,” and “that there is a debris field around the house. One victim was found in the northeast corner of the home and the other body was recovered from the northwest corner,” explained by Bring Me The News.
All information is credited to MPR’s article here, and Bring Me The News’ article here.