Gas explosion levels Riverside home, causing chaos in neighborhood

An explosion leveled a home in Riverside, California Saturday, causing damage to the surrounding residences and creating chaos in the neighborhood.

Officials believe the incident was an accident with no foul play suspected, although there is not yet a determined cause.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a house on the 4100 block of Ivanpah Place in Riverside exploded from a natural gas fire. No one was in the house at the time, since it was being renovated, and no injuries were reported.

All that remained after the huge explosion was a pile of wood and debris. The damage spread to the house to the west of the exploded home and the attic of the house on the other side started to flame up, causing both houses to be rendered “uninhabitable.”

A neighbor called the fire department early that morning, reporting “I think the house blew up next door,” said Riverside Fire Department Captain Bruce Vanderhorst.

Neighbor Wayne Keller, who lives to the east of the explosion and was sound asleep in his home when the explosion occurred, said, “It was mayhem; you could hear the gas line going like crazy.”

The whole neighborhood awoke to the deafening sound of the house blowing up, according to ABC. Another neighbor reported, "I thought it was an earthquake, my son said it sounded like a car hitting our house." Yet another said, "There was massive embers all over the place," he told KABC-TV. "I got my hose out and tried to just keep my roof wet."

The Huffington Post reports that the gas company claimed that there was no leak at the time of the explosion – in fact, both the gas main pipeline and the service line up to the gas meter were in “safe operating condition.” Authorities continue to investigate the situation.