Explosion of Joliet Township home still under investigation

State and federal investigators are still determining the cause and origin point of an explosion that destroyed a home in Joliet Township and injured four people Sunday.

East Joliet Fire Chief Kirk Kelly said the condition of the elderly couple hospitalized after the blast is improving. A neighbor with minor injuries was also hospitalized and another neighbor was treated and released at the scene, according to the East Joliet Fire Department.

Gary Heiden, who lives two blocks from the home, said he was told by neighbors the 71-year-old resident of the home was sitting on her lawn chair when the explosion “blew her out of the chair and across the yard.”

Heiden said neighbors told him the woman’s 76-year-old husband had been pinned against a vehicle by the rubble and a neighbor was struck in the head by a brick.

The explosion is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office.

ATF spokeswoman Kim Nerheim said Monday that ATF agents are assisting local and state fire marshals “to determine the cause and origin” of the explosion.

“The investigation is ongoing,” Nerheim said.

State Fire Marshal spokesman JC Fultz said the incident was still under investigation and he had “no information available at this time.”

A part of East Washington Street was still blocked on Monday as crews cleaned up the debris.

Will County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said the 71-year-old woman suffered shrapnel-like wounds to her arms and legs, as well as a head injury.

Hoffmeyer said the 76-year-old man told deputies that he stored black powder in a container next to the furnace in the basement of the home. Neighbors informed deputies they smelled “something like gunpowder” after the explosion, she said, and other neighbors told of hearing an electrical crackling prior to the blast.

David Dillard, who lives less than block away from the home, said he was asleep when the explosion woke him up. He said he felt the ground shake and his windows rattle.

He said the power went out briefly in his home.

Dillard said he and several other neighbors went to the scene of the explosion and saw debris in the trees and on the ground. He said he was in shock when he realized a home had been destroyed.

“It took a moment for me to sink in that there was house there beforehand,” Dillard said.

David Kump, who also lived nearby, said he was in his home when he felt a rumble and he couldn’t tell if it was an explosion, an earthquake or a plane crash.

“It was so disturbing,” Kump said when he saw the pile of rubble.