(October 6, 2009)

BEEVILLE--A propane gas leak is said to be the cause of a devastating explosion and fire in Beeville this morning that sent one woman to the hospital with minor burns and left a family of four homeless.

Nobody was in the house at the time of the fire, but shortly after the explosion, a neighbor saw smoke coming from the house and he called 911.

Roland Herrera was inside his home when he heard his girlfriend call for help. When he came outside, the next door neighbor's home on Old Houston Highway was fully engulfed, leaving a family of four homeless.

"They were stretching higher than the telephone pole," Herrera said. "I heard several things sound like firecrackers. I know he likes to hunt. I guess there was some ammunition in there."

Herrera called firefighters, and wanted to help out.

"My first thought were gosh let me pick up a water hose and see what I can do, but with the flames as high as they were and the heat coming off, there was no way," said Herrera, who has live there for about a year. 

The fire marshal said a propane gas leak caused the blaze. When Mo Mo Juranek lit the pilot light on Tuesday morning, it exploded leaving the woman with burns to her wrist and ankle.

"Something with the propane tank or water heater, maybe is the way she got burned and likely that's what caused the fire," Herrera said. 

Juranek was treated for minor burns and released from a Beeville hospital. The home was 90 percent damaged from smoke and fire and they have no insurance.

"Of course they're going to be crushed by this, but what can you do you're just in shock when something like this happens," said Herrera.