Fatal Explosion Rocks Ohio Home, One Dead
I still remember reading about that Friday afternoon blast in Massillon, Ohio, and feeling a chill. At 3:18 p.m., a detached garage near Lincoln Way East, between 17th and 18th Street Northeast, literally exploded. Neighbors told me they could hear the boom up to two miles away. Imagine that—you’re going about your day, and suddenly, a sound like thunder shakes the whole neighborhood.
When emergency crews arrived, the scene was chaos: smoke and flames engulfed what was left of the structure. One neighbor, Robert Hauf, ran outside hoping to help, but the fire was already too intense. He described the garage “totally exploding in flames” and suspected gas cans or propane tanks might have been involved.
It’s hard not to picture the scene—debris scattered, walls ripped apart, and the kind of destruction you usually only see in movies…