Soldotna House Explosion Injures 2

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A Soldotna house explosion Thursday afternoon injured two people inside, who were rescued by neighbors and medevaced to Seattle with serious burns.

Brad Nelson, a health and safety officer with Central Emergency Services in Soldotna, says the house at 336 W. Riverview Ave. suffered flooding damage a few days ago. The homeowner and a friend were inside when the blast occurred at about 1 p.m.

"For an unknown reason, it exploded," Nelson said.

Repair workers at a home next door, which had also suffered flooding damage, entered the building to rescue the two people, who are being medevaced to Harborview Burn Center in Seattle.

Nelson says responding firefighters quickly extinguished flames in the eaves and roof spaces of the house, but were unable to shut off the gas because the explosion -- which was powerful enough to shift all external walls of the house -- had blown the house's gas valve onto the roof and left unextinguishable flames shooting from the exposed gas main.