Couple in their 80s found dead following house explosion, fire in Hopkins
HOPKINS, Minn. -- Crews battled a fire in a western Twin Cities suburb Wednesday afternoon following a reported house explosion, and the city's fire chief says that there were two bodies recovered from the scene.
Crews from the Hopkins police and fire departments responded to a home on the 200 block of 21st Avenue North around 10:15 a.m. Neighboring agencies later arrived to assist.
A detective took WCCO to look at spots cameras weren't allowed to go, and the place looks more like a tornado hit it rather than a house fire. The home is a total loss, but also a reminder that life is the only thing that's irreplaceable.
What was first a powerful sound was then followed by an eerie silence. One neighbor told WCCO he heard some screaming inside.
"The house shook, the doors shook," a witness said. "It's scary, because my neighbor lives in there."
After that, the sirens. The state fire marshal was on scene to lead an all-day investigation into what happened and who might have been in the home.
As of 4 p.m., the Hopkins Fire Department's chief said that two bodies were found in two different parts of the home.
A granddaughter identified the couple living in the home as Herb and Sharon Vassar, who were 85 and 83 respectively. They had lived in the home since the 1960s and were proud parents to five children and 10 grandchildren.
As fire crews continued to put out hot spots and dig through the rubble of a home now left in mere pieces, family searched for memories of the loving couple they can't believe is gone.
"Today is shock. It'll be a hard few weeks," said Alyssa Kennedy, one of 10 grandchildren to Herb and Sharon Vassar.
They were married more than 60 years and members of their neighborhood for nearly as long.
"My grandpa built this house in 1964," Kennedy said.
His handiwork was gone in a flash when the home exploded Wednesday morning. Neighbors and police rushed to help, hoping nobody was inside.
"We stood between the houses, 50-75 yards away, and the heat was too much for us, we had to step back," said neighbor Scott Waryan.
He said the sound and force of the explosion made him think his house was struck by lightning. Others described picture frames falling off walls.
Investigators are still trying to determine what caused the explosion, but the family members of the Vassars have a theory. They say Herb installed a new water heater the night before after the original one was leaking last week. The family wonders if the explosion may have had something to do with that.
Worrying about the cause isn't Kennedy's focus now, rather remembering a grandma and grandpa who loved caring for their yard and garden while also enjoying the outdoors.
"We have tons of family campouts. My parents and them and a few others had a weeklong campout literally last week. We had one coming up in three weeks, too," she said, adding that she tried to visit them at least once a month this year. "I got to have a nice conversation with my grandma on the phone just this Monday, like a really long one because she wanted to keep talking. So, we kept it up."