Rose Hill Couple Injured When Home Explodes

Tina Vant Sant searches through what remains of her mother’s home in Rose Hill on Sunday afternoon. Her mother and step-father were trapped in the home for two hours after the home exploded around them.

Rose Hill, Iowa – A Rose Hill couple was sent to the hospital on Sunday morning when their home exploded around them, sometime around 3 am.

The couple was in bed at the time of the incident on the first floor, but was dropped into the basement as the one-and-a-half story home settled.

The couple, who haven’t been identified, was trapped in the basement of their home for two hours, until utility workers arrived at their home around 5 am Sunday because their meter reported they were without power.

What Cheer Fire responded to the scene in the 400 block of Jackson Street shortly after 5 am. Around 5:30 am Oskaloosa Fire was dispatched to assist at the scene.

Tina Vant Sant, daughter of the woman who was trapped and injured, was at what remained of the home on Sunday afternoon, searching for anything that could be salvaged.

She wasn’t alone, many family members were there as well, searching through the debris that was widely scattered. The force was so strong that the front door of the home was thrown against the neighbor’s home across the street to the east. Other debris struck the other neighbor’s home across the other street to the north.

Tina says that the destruction was from an act of God. “It was lightning or something.”

Firefighters rescued the couple through a small hole near the front of the home, pulling them up through the floor, which used to be the ceiling.

The family dog was killed, but their pet parrot was blown free from the home, still inside its cage.

Oskaloosa Fire Chief Mark Neff said that approximately ten firefighters from What Cheer and Oskaloosa were on scene.

As far as a cause, Neff said there is no official cause of the damage to the home at this point.