Mineral Wells Index, Mineral Wells, TX

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August 18, 2009

<FONT COLOR="red">ODD OCCURANCE: </font>Trailer house at Lake Palo Pinto explodes

By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com

LAKE PALO PINTO – An odd series of occurrences led to the explosion of a trailer home Saturday on the west side of Lake Palo Pinto.

Shortly after 2 p.m., volunteer firefighting teams from Gordon, Santo, Lone Camp, Palo Pinto and Mineral Wells responded to a Long Drive residence after four or five calls came in to the Palo Pinto County Sheriff's Department. According to Deputy Fire Marshal Steve Perdue, at least one initial call indicated this could be a possible plane crash with explosions.

Instead, it was a lake home, which the owner told officials had not been used for six years, Perdue said.

Residue, remaining in the propane tank, leaked out under the house. These vapors were ignited when a power line touched the metal side of the trailer and shorted out, explained Perdue.

“It was a strange coincidence of events,” he said. “It blew the walls of the trailer out, according to those first on the scene. And it burned with the

strong winds we had Saturday.”

The resulting fire scorched the paint on the house next door and “a little piece of flying debris ignited a garage about 50 feet to 60 feet away. It landed at the base of the garage wall – made of plater board – and burned a hole in it,” he said.

“The owners thought the [propane] tank was empty,” Perdue said. “There's no such thing as empty when you are talking about something that will vaporize like natural gas or gasoline.”

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