Burglary led to house explosion

MUNCIE – A burglar who stole a vacant house’s furnace set in motion events that led to a Thursday night explosion that rocked a south Muncie neighborhood, investigators say.

“It appears there was some type of burglary that went on there,” Robert Mead, chief investigator for the Muncie Fire Department, said Friday evening.

Neighbors said the demolished house – at 2003 S. Eaton Ave. – had been vacant for about three weeks.

When those responsible for the break-in stole the furnace from the home’s basement, they left a natural gas line uncapped, Mead said.

That led to a buildup of gas in the house that led to the explosion that destroyed the house about 7:50 p.m. Thursday.

Mead – joined at the scene Friday by investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s office and the Muncie Police Department – said authorities believed the pilot light on a water heater could have sparked the blast.

Mead said the investigation was ongoing, and that he did not yet know when the break-in likely took place.

Authorities had expected a long investigation at the scene, but that didn’t prove necessary. Mead said “the way the structure fell” by chance gave investigators fairly easy access to critical areas.

“As long as I’ve been doing this, nothing surprises me,” he said.

The explosion sent debris and broken glass into Eaton Avenue and nearby yards, and also damaged homes on either side of the destroyed house. It also caused neighbors in a two-block radius to be evacuated from their homes for more than two hours Thursday night.

Sally Monroe, who lives just south of the blast site, said the explosion had knocked her home off its foundation. Also damaged were her home’s gutters, a fence and her car.

“All things that can be replaced,” she noted.

Carolyn Bell, who lives on nearby Waldemere Avenue, said she and her husband were watching television Thursday night when they heard the explosion.

She said she at first wondered if a “horrendous” traffic accident had taken place nearby. When she realized a house had blown up, “all I could think about was that (Indianapolis) explosion,” Bell said.

In November 2012, a natural gas explosion in that city’s Richmond Hill’s subdivision killed two people and did $4 million in damage. Authorities said that blast stemmed from a scheme to collect insurance money.

Bell cares for four cats who make the southeastside neighborhood their home, and was relieved when they all showed up for breakfast Friday morning.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.

Mobile users: Google Maps street view of reported address of Thursday night's explosion.