Idaho Investigators: Leaking Propane Led to Home Explosion

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho state fire investigators say a teen girl who was badly injured in a home explosion told a guardian that she smelled gas the day before the explosion, but the adult disregarded the warning and instead blamed the smell on dirty laundry.

Sixty-nine-year-old Jonathan Robinson Field Jr. was killed in the March 17 explosion that leveled the McCall home. Idaho State Fire Marshal Knute Sandahl says the 15-year-old girl remains hospitalized, but said her recovery has been "miraculous."

Sandahl said during a press conference Wednesday that investigators determined the explosion happened after heavy snow piled on the home's propane meter and regulator caused a fracture in the propane pipe within a wall of the home.

Leaking propane pooled in the crawlspace of the house, eventually overflowing into the first floor, where it was ignited by the furnace.