Third party blamed for gas explosion destroying home in Chicago suburb
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The destruction is massive that came from an explosion in the northwest suburbs.
The federal government is investigating the contractor now blamed for rupturing a gas line that sparked it.
A home was destroyed in a northwest suburban neighborhood on Monday and a third-party company is being blamed for the cause of the natural gas explosion.
CBS 2's Shardaa Gray reports from Woodstock with the latest details.
Pieces like a curtain rod end cap were launched across the street. Neighbors are thankful nobody was inside, but they're left wondering why this happened.
"It's unbelievable. You never thought something like this could happen."
Monica Diaz and her family almost went into their home when Nicor told them there was a gas leak.
"They said if we wanted to walk up to our house, we could park and walk and we said no thank you. We have four children in the back of our van. We don't want to risk it," Diaz said.
She went to her mom's house, which was just a block away. Five minutes later, her neighbor's house exploded.
"Everyone was texting me, 'are you ok? Is your home everyone OK?' By the grace of God, we weren't walking by our house," Diaz said.
Neighbors were told to shelter in place because of a gas leak.
Nicor investigators said an outside contractor struck a gas line inside a sewer. Nicor crews then responded to the situation. That contractor is Visu-Sewer.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said it is now investigating.
"The shock wave was so intense, it blew out two of hour front window. that was pretty insane. It seems like it would be too far away for it to do that, but it happened anyway. Just a few minutes later, we managed to escape through the backyard because there was a lot of smoke around," said neighbor Ethan Lane.
CBS 2 reached out to the sewer company for more information about this explosion, but we have not heard back.