Deadly Lake Zurich house explosion leveled home in north Chicago
A 77-year-old man is dead after a home explosion that briefly shook residences in Chicago’s northwest suburbs Tuesday night.
Multiple fire departments responded to the scene in Lake Zurich, a small village 35 miles outside Chicago, after neighbors reported the blast around 8:30 p.m. Lake County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Christopher Covelli said in a news release when first responders arrived, they “found a home completely leveled.”
The man whose body was pulled from the rubble was not immediately identified, and sheriff’s officials could not immediately confirm if the victim was the homeowner.
Two young children were playing basketball in the driveway several houses down when the home exploded, scattering debris over the pavement and sending the children running, according to a scene captured by a neighbor’s security camera. Though the explosion was not captured on camera, an orange glow emitted by the blast is visible.
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Tiffany Koch, a neighbor, told ABC Chicago affiliate WLS that she and other neighbors tried to rescue the man in the home. Koch described hearing a boom, which some neighbors initially thought might be a tree falling, and a brief second of shaking.
Share this articleShare“I don’t think anyone knew what was going on, we just heard a loud boom,” Koch told the station. “We instantly saw the flames, the smokes. We tried to get into the house, but the flames were too high.”
Fire investigators with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Illinois State Fire Marshal are among the agencies investigating the blast but said it’s too early to determine a cause.
Lake Zurich Fire Chief David Pilgard said there are no known issues affecting the area, such as gas line infrastructure problems or arson. Investigators Wednesday afternoon were in the midst of “a very mundane process,” combing through every room and item in the destroyed home, Pilgard told The Washington Post.
“They go through very systematically without bird-dogging and fixating on potential causes,” he said, noting that the process is expected to take several days and is not always conclusive.
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