Glendale home explosion reminds Wauwatosa of similar event
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Tom Murray reports Video by tmj4.com
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WAUWATOSA - On an empty residential lot near the intersection of N. 109th Street and W. Wisconsin Avenue, there is a small angel statuette on top of old address numbers. It is the spot where a home exploded five years ago.
Evan Stark was just ten years old when his neighbor's house went up in flames.
"It was very frightening," Stark told TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Tom Murray on Monday. "The whole window just blew in. It was almost like snowing, but it was just insulation."
It is a June weekend in 2007 that still haunts him.
"The destruction was horrible," he recounted.
80-year-old Lorraine Gaulke died in the blast that rocked her neighborhood. Debris flew into surrounding yards. Windows shattered.
"Like a ball of fire shooting in the air," one witness told TODAY'S TMJ4 in 2007.
Another nearby resident said she could feel suction toward the house moments before the explosion.
"Branches, everything seemed to pulled," that resident explained in 2007 interview. "My window bowed, got sucked toward the direction of the house."
The home next door was so badly damaged it had to be torn down.
The lot where the home exploded and the neighboring lot are now grass covered and up for sale.
A faulty gas line from the home's stove or oven was to blame, a We Energies spokesperson said.
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