LOLO – A man has been hospitalized with severe burns over half his body following a Monday night gas explosion and fire at a home in Lolo.
The Missoula Rural Fire District (MRFD) responded to a home in the 15000 block of Manor Boulevard just south of Lolo shortly after 11 p.m. for reports of a basement fire.
Crews arrived to find that everyone in the home - including a man who suffered what are described as severe burns - had managed to escape.
MRFD Battalion Chief Michael Bowman says a resident was working to repair a water heater when the crawlspace he was in filled with propane when “an unknown spark caused a flash fire and explosion.”
The man was able to get out of the crawlspace and was taken to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula suffering from burns to half of his body.
No other injuries to the other three occupants were reported and crews were able to quickly put out the remaining fire.
Bowman says MRFD is continuing to look into what caused the explosion.
