Authorities are investigating an early morning explosion that destroyed an unoccupied house today in the 6000 block of Indian Road in unincorporated Boulder County.
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said it responded to the call at about 4 a.m. today to find the house completely collapsed from the explosion.
No one was in the house at the time and there was no damage to any surrounding houses.
A neighbor, Bill Mundwiller, said he was awakened by the blast at about 3:30 a.m.and was the one who called 911.
“It knocked me out of bed, it was so loud,” Mundwiller said. “It was a big explosion and a flash, but I didn’t see any fire.”
Another neighbor, Nova Frank said she was awakened by the explosion but didn’t realize what had happened until deputies knocked on her door.
“They told me the neighbor’s house had exploded,” she said. “I have two little kids so I got them and went to hang out at the church across the street.”
Mundwiller and Frank said the house had been a rental property and was currently for sale, and believed it had been unoccupied for the past year.
Mundwiller also said he had called Xcel Energy at about 5 p.m. Thursday, due to an odor of natural gas he detected in the neighborhood, but that the utility’s personnel found nothing amiss in the area.
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Xcel Energy went to the area Thursday.
Boulder County Sheriff’s deputies and Xcel Energy crews were on the scene this morning, and an investigation into the cause of the explosion, which left the house in splinters, was continuing.
Xcel spokesman Gabriel Romero said since the house was unoccupied it was possible a leak sprung inside the house, but said investigators would not be able to start until the house was deemed safe. Gas to the house has been shut off.
“There is still a whole lot yet to be determined,” Romero said.
Contact Camera Staff Writer Mitchell Byars at 303-473-1329, byarsm@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/mitchellbyars.