Thieves stole furnace, causing house explosion in Detroit

A Detroit neighborhood was rocked after a home exploded overnight.

It happened around 3 a.m. on the 6000 block of Evergreen Road, just south of West Warren Avenue. People as far as four blocks away reported hearing and feeling the powerful blast.

"It threw me out of the bed. Wham! It knocked the hell out of me," says Clinton Majors.

Neighbors tell us a single mother and her three kids just recently moved out, and the house was now in the process of being remodeled.

Investigators from DTE Energy and the police and fire departments have been working closely together to figure out exactly what leveled the home. They now believe someone stole a furnace out of  the basement causing a gas leak, resulting in the blow. Signs of the destruction are everywhere.

"They took the furnace; they took it out. The gas was spewing and finally it hit that explosive range and was ignited, we believe, by the water heater," says Detroit Fire Deputy Commissioner Daid Fornell.

Glass and debris could be seen scattered all over the street. The explosion was so massive, neighbors say it knocked them out of bed and broke their windows. No injuries were reported.

We're told this is an isolated incident due to the stolen furnace, and no other homes have cause for concern.