ORANGE – A man was killed in an explosion strong enough to blow the garage door off a one-story home Thursday night, authorities said.

The explosion sparked a fire and left shards of broken glass on the 600 block of Oakmont Avenue, said Sgt. Sean O’Toole of the Orange Police Department.

Inside, authorities said they found resident Erik Christensen, 47, who was in the garage at the time of the explosion. Several neighbors reported hearing the loud blast at 11:18 p.m., O’Toole said.

“It blew out the garage door completely,” he said.

The explosion appears to be accidental and no foul play is suspected, said Orange police Lt. Fred Lopez.

Glass from broken windows and other debris was scattered near the garage, he said. Firefighters quickly extinguished a fire sparked by the explosion.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s hazardous-device squad was called to investigate, but the cause of the explosion remains under investigation, O’Toole said. He would not say what was inside the garage.

Several other people were inside the home at the time of the explosion, but they were not injured, he said.

Christensen lived in the home with his adult son, mother and father, said next-door neighbor Masood Khan.

“He was a very nice man,” Khan said, adding that Christensen has lived in the house for more than 20 years. “He did some woodworking for me.”

Khan said he was watching television when he heard the blast.

“It shook my house,” he said Friday morning outside Christensen’s residence.

Khan ran outside and saw that Christensen’s garage door had been blown away. As Khan called 911 and moved closer, he could see smoke and flames inside the garage, along with Christensen, who was sitting and unresponsive. “His son was shouting, ‘Dad, Dad!’” Khan said.

Khan said he was about to turn a garden hose on the fire when an emergency dispatcher told him by phone to refrain because of a possible chemical reaction.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7949 or shernandez@ocregister.com