Natural Gas Explosion At Apartment Complex

A gas explosion on Saturday morning at the Comanche Park apartments left an entire building in ruins. At least four apartments were destroyed and two men are still in the hospital with severe burns.

The News On 6's Jeffrey Smith reports the explosion was so powerful that it could be felt a mile away.

Neighbors say waking up to see an entire building torn apart, makes them think twice about staying.

Geneva Walker says the destruction is the worst thing she's seen in her 35 years at Comanche Park.

"You think about a lot of things. The apartments is so old," said Walker.

A gas explosion tore apart the single story building. There are four apartment units in the building, now it's gone.

"My sister called me and told me there was an explosion out here. It went off so bad it shook her house,' said Walker.

As fire investigators continued looking for clues, all neighbors could do was stand in disbelief.

"I looked over there and said oh boy. That's terrible," said Ronnie Bruner.

Bruner saw the whole thing.

"It took the whole front of his apartment and the roof off. Someone had to come and lift the roof off him, off the guy that lives there," said Bruner.

"We arrived to find a massive amount of destruction," said Tulsa Fire Captain Larry Bowles.        

The explosion originated in the kitchen of one of the apartments.

"There wasn't a tremendous amount of fire, which is consistent with natural gas explosions," said Bowles.

Two men in their late 40s arrived at Hillcrest Hospital with severe burns. One of the men, Thomas Bowen, is still in critical condition.

One fire investigator says Bowen had second degree burns over 60% of his body. He says the gas line underneath the stove was unhooked, but the stove was not on.

"I saw a lot of stuff. I saw a unit get caught on fire, but I never," said Walker.

As the investigation continues Walker says all she can do is pray for Bowen to pull through.

One investigator says that they don't know what Bowen was doing in the kitchen. He says it was likely either a suicide attempt or he could have been doing maintenance work.

Until Bowen gets out of the hospital, investigators won't know caused the apartment to explode.