Explosion may have been caused by cigar

"We thought Eglin missed their mark"

Updated: Thursday, 24 Sep 2009, 6:51 PM CDT
Published : Thursday, 24 Sep 2009, 4:10 PM CDT

Christina Leavenworth
Photojournalist: Franz Barraza



OKALOOSA COUNTY, Fla. - An early morning explosion wipes a house off the map. Officials believe a man went to light a cigar in the kitchen, blowing the walls off the house.

It almost looks like a tornado hit the home. Debris is scattered down Ponderosa Road in Okaloosa County, Fla.

David Barnett lives in the neighborhood.

"We thought Eglin missed their mark with a bomb out there, and it was the house, big explosion, very big," he said.

Barnett ran out of his home and found the victim lying outside.

"He was on outside of the house, laying on part of the wall. He had flesh hanging off of him, a little coherent. I just started praying with him right there," Barnett added.

Pieces of glass, a door, and even pieces of the roof were thrown a good 50 feet.

"We're looking at total structural failure. The exterior walls have been blown out of the house, pushed out back of the house, both walls have been pushed to the ground," Ryan Christen with the Ocean City-Wright Fire department said.

Firefighters believe the victim was in the kitchen and lit a cigar, when the home exploded. They still don't know what caused it. Gas crews, along with the state fire marshal are investigating what could have happened.

The victim, who was not identified, was flown to U.S.A. Medical Center, where he is still listed in critical condition.