Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 10, 1994 TAG: 9410100078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MONETA LENGTH: Medium
Dean and Phyllis De Sart were treated for minor burns Sunday at Bedford County Memorial Hospital and released. Neighbors and rescue workers said the couple woke up and fled their home about 6 a.m. after something exploded in their basement on Virginia 626, about two miles north of Saunders Marina.
The explosion blew a door off the couple's house and collapsed their deck. A resulting fire gutted most of the house's interior. Rescue workers pulled the De Sarts' Jeep Wrangler out of their garage to prevent the engine, which had melted, from dropping out of the car. Hours later, the car sat burnt and blackened in the partially melted asphalt driveway, with piles of charred wood and rubble sitting on its hood and roof.
The cause of the explosion has not been determined and arson has not been ruled out, said Sherman Dellis, chief of the Saunders Volunteer Fire Co. The De Sarts had electric heat and there were no propane tanks inside their home to cause the explosion. He said the home is a total loss and that the De Sarts were very fortunate to be alive.
Although members of the Saunders Volunteer Fire Co. and the Huddleston Fire and Rescue Squad put the blaze out within a couple of hours, the concrete floor of the basement continued to steam from the intense heat of the explosion as long as seven hours later.
Some time after the explosion, several rounds of ammunition that belonged to Dean De Sart were set off by the fire. Dellis said De Sart is a hunter and the ammunition probably did not contribute to the initial explosion.
Investigation into the explosion's cause will continue, Dellis said.
by CNB