ALEXANDRIA — A man was in critical condition Tuesday night after a house he was in exploded in Alexandria.
Derek Noland, 20, was in Indianapolis’ Wishard Hospital’s burn unit, a hospital spokesman said.
Noland was in the house at 819 W. Adams St. when an explosion came from the house, rocking the quiet westside neighborhood. He suffered burns and was taken to Community Hospital in Anderson, where he was airlifted to Wishard.
“He was burned pretty bad,” said Chris Noland, Derek Noland’s father and the owner of the house.
Alexandria firefighters responded to a call of an explosion with a man inside at 5:56 p.m. Tuesday, Capt. Jim King said.
“The house was fully involved and already collapsed” when firefighters arrived, King said.
It took at least 30 minutes to get the flames under control, King said, and firefighters still were fighting hot spots more than an hour later, using heavy equipment to move sections of the charred, fallen roof and frame.
Shards of glass and pieces of vinyl siding and gutters littered the yards of neighbors after the explosion. The siding of the houses on either side of 819 W. Adams St. was warped and melted. Damage was estimated later at $100,000.
Next-door neighbor Nick McCormick said he was inside his house on the phone when he heard the explosion, which was so loud it prompted his cousin, who was on the other end of the line, to ask what happened.
“I heard a boom,” he said. “I went outside and the house was in flames.”
McCormick said after seeing the burning house, he saw Derek Noland walking around with burns as if he were in a daze.
No one lived in the house, but it was owned by Chris Noland, who lives next door and uses the house for storage, Chris Noland said.
“I know there was an explosion, but I don’t know what happened,” he said.
King said the cause of the fire was under investigation, and the state fire marshal was called in to help investigate.
Alexandria police said there were gasoline cans stored in the house, but it was unclear whether that contributed to the explosion.
Former Wayne Township (Indianapolis) firefighter James Foust said he had seen plenty of explosions as a firefighter, but none to the extent of Tuesday’s explosion in Alexandria. Foust lives about four blocks from the site of the fire.
“I heard the explosion and was down there in a minute and a half,” he said. “It was just a boom and you kind of felt it. I was out in the garage and I happened to look up and I saw all the smoke and I took off.”
Foust said when his former fire department called the fire marshal it was usually for an investigation in which the department’s investigators requested help or confirmation.
“I was just amazed that from the time I heard the explosion until the time I got down there the house was just leveled,” he said. “I’ve been on gas station fires and not seen them leveled like that.”
Foust said he doubted the fire was set off by gasoline cans within the house.
“I didn’t smell an odor of gasoline,” he said. “For as much gas as that would have to take, you would think you would have smelled it. If there would have been gas cans, I think there would have been more than one explosion."
No firefighters were injured during the response, which was assisted by Richland Township Volunteer Fire Department, Summitville-Van Buren Township Volunteer Fire Department, Pipe Creek Township Volunteer Fire Department and Madison County Emergency Management Agency.
Contact Aleasha Sandley: 640-4805, aleasha.sandley@heraldbulletin.com.
