Deadly house explosion rocks Sacramento | Neighbor says homeowners told him about plans

By Eric Schucht

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) — A house exploded and caught fire Thursday morning in south Sacramento, leaving one person dead, officials said.

Fire crews were dispatched at 6:15 a.m. to a property on 39th Street south of 14th Avenue in the South Oak Park neighborhood after receiving multiple 911 calls about a house explosion.

Upon arrival, firefighters saw a well-involved fire and subsequent explosions, the Sacramento Fire Department said. A deceased person was found toward the front of the house. The blast impacted at least two to three other nearby structures.

It was unclear what caused the explosion. The age and gender of the person killed is also not known. Crews are expected to be on-site for the next four to six hours.

Neighbor Ed Williams told KCRA 3 the homeowner intentionally blew up his own home.

“I know he did it on purpose, Williams said. “I’m not, there’s no guessing at it. He told me yesterday. I’m like ‘Dude, come on. What do you got, like gunpowder?’ He’s like, ‘I don’t wanna say, I have what it would take to blow this house up, and if I do it’s gonna be with me in it.'”

Another neighbor told KCRA he heard a loud explosion while having his morning coffee. His home shook and a picture frame on the wall fell and hit him in the head. The neighbor showed his damaged garage and said he “grabbed my hose and started trying to put out the fires best I could, but obviously it was a little more than I could handle on that.”

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