East side Detroit house explodes, man injured as fire engulfs home

DETROIT (WJBK) - Smoke could be seen for miles after a house exploded on Detroit's east side, injuring a man inside and spreading to a house next door.

When you look at the fireball it is amazing more people were not injured or even worse as a sunny sweltering Wednesday afternoon suddenly blew up.

Detroit Fire investigators say this has all the signs of a natural gas explosion from this brick house on Margaret Street at John R. The 50-year-old man inside was rushed to Detroit Receiving with significant burns but his condition is not known at this time. 

FOX 2: "You were home what did you hear?"

"Just a big explosion," said neighbor Perry Groves.

Groves was at home with his brother Marvin at the time of the blast, but what the two didn't know is the explosion blew into their house as well.

"A bunch of fire, glass and everything started flying in our kitchen," Groves said. "Once we saw that we ran up the hallway and jumped out of the window."

Perry and Marvin had not one second to grab anything. They bolted to escape with their lives.

"When we heard the first explosion it sounded like it was our house that blew up," said his brother, Marvin Godfrey. "But we got up and was looking out the door when the second explosion happened and that's when we saw the glass and bricks flying and we had to back up because it (was) flying through the door.

"And that's when we took off down the hallway running to the back of the house. We had to jump out the house out the back window to get out the house before our house caught on fire."

Detroit Fire investigators say this has all the signs of a natural gas explosion from this brick house next door to the brothers.

DTE techs on scene told Detroit Fire there was no indication of a broken gas main or even a broken gas line.

Fire investigators say it's possible a gas appliance exploded.

Once outside the brothers Perry and Marvin were first to help their burned and injured neighbor who they say they only know by the name "Old School."

"We grabbed him up ran him across the street  on the other side and he was just burnt up everywhere, " said Groves.

Three people are displaced including the only person injured who is hospitalized.

The two brothers next door Perry and Marvin are displaced and on the other side of the explosion. The people in another neighboring house where a woman and her two children live, are not injured but displaced. The Red Cross was on scene providing temporary shelter for them.