Iowa Farmhouse Explosion Leaves Three Substantially Injured

A farmhouse in Battle Creek Iowa exploded Wednesday morning sending three people to the hospital.

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Crews were called to the scene at around 9:30 Wednesday morning. By the time the Battle Creek Fire Department and neighboring departments arrived on the scene, the whole house had been engulfed in flames.

At the time the explosion happened, there were three adults in the house- two male and one female says Sioux City Journal. Neighbors helped remove the victims from the house so that when the firefighters arrived, the three were outside the home.

Ida County Sherrif Wade Harriman described the scene as chaotic saying;

You've got the injured people that we want to triage and get out of here as quickly as possible for medical care and obviously, you're trying to secure the scene as well, to make sure that, you know, first responders can come in and do their job safely.

Harriman told Sioux City Journal that the three people sustained “substantial” injuries. Two were taken to Horn Memorial Hospital in Ida Grove before being transferred to a burn center in Lincoln, Nebraska. The third was taken to Sioux City.

As of 12:40 Wednesday, the fire was brought under control. Officials did stick around to monitor the scene.

As of late Wednesday, the conditions of the three individuals were still unknown. Their identities have not been released at this time.

The Iowa State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the explosion but investigators were waiting until the heat in the debris to cool down before they can complete the investigation.  According to Sioux City Journal, it may take a few days to determine the cause of the explosion.