By Ann Marie Bush and Samantha Foster
The Capital-Journal
TOPEKA, Kan. — Two Kansas Gas Service employees were at a meeting in southwest Topeka when they heard a loud explosion shortly before noon Monday.
They made their way to 1905 S.W. Navajo and helped an elderly woman from the debris of a house explosion, said Dawn Ewing, spokeswoman for Kansas Gas Service.
The explosion left a 73-year-old woman injured, neighbors shaken, several without gas service and debris scattered across the quiet neighborhood.
Topeka police officers and firefighters responded at 11:38 a.m. to the 1900 block of S.W. Navajo on the report of a house explosion.
“The first on scene fire official reported that the house was gone,” Topeka Fire Department Investigator Michael Martin wrote in a news release.
Jim Green, city emergency management coordinator, said a contractor had been working in a backyard directly behind 1905 S.W. Navajo when a gas line was struck, causing the explosion.
Martin listed the origin of the fire as the “neighboring property immediately west of the incident address.” He listed the cause of the fire as damage to a gas line while excavating to install a sprinkler system.
Police Lt. Jana Harden said the woman who lived in the house was “alert, conscious and aware” when emergency responders arrived. The woman was airlifted to The University of Kansas Medical Center, where as of 6 p.m. she was in serious but stable condition.
The website for the Shawnee County Appraiser’s Office lists the homeowner as Lucinia Tolliver. The house’s 2011 appraised value was $151,000.
Neighbors said a woman lived alone at the house.
Streets around the explosion were blocked off for several hours. The 1900 block of S.W. Navajo was opened about 7 p.m., Green said.
Firefighters, police officers and other crews were still at the scene Monday evening. Some neighbors were sitting outside in lawn chairs watching the activity.
A strong odor of gas and thick smoke filled the air for several blocks around the scene shortly after the explosion.
Insulation was hanging in neighborhood trees and a garage door from 1905 S.W. Navajo had been blown into the street. The explosion blew out a window in the house across the street, too.
At 1 p.m., firefighters continued monitoring the site. There were still some flames in the basement of the house, and bystanders were told to move further east of the foundations because of heavy gas fumes.
Lois Jones, who lives in the house just west of the one that is now gone, said she had just finished watching “Jeopardy” when she heard and felt the explosion. She was concerned about the safety of her own home and possessions while she sat across the street and watched firefighters monitor the last remnants of the blaze.
Part of the leveled house was leaning against the side of Jones’ house.
The explosion could be heard for some distance from the scene. Harden said police officers at Topeka West High School had heard it.
Barbara Rush, who lives near S.W. 17th and Village Drive, was watching crews work late Monday afternoon.
“My whole house shook,” she said. “First I thought the tree fell on my house.”
Rush went outside and saw pieces of insulation “raining down.”
“It looked like snow,” she said. “There were charred pieces of roofing, too.”
Kristi Peters, who lives near S.W. 25th and Fairlawn, said she was working at Dillard’s in West Ridge Mall when she felt the explosion.
“I thought someone had dropped something,” she said.
Her daughter, who attend McClure Elementary School, was at school writing on a piece of paper when the explosion caused her pencil to slip.
Green said gas was shut off to 77 homes after the incident. He anticipated the gas would remain shut off at seven homes in the immediate vicinity of the house that exploded.
Investigation into the incident will continue Tuesday, Green said.
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