ST. PAUL, Minn. - Firefighters who were on the scene of a house explosion in St. Paul are calling the homeowner's survival "miraculous."
Friday morning, the house on Payne Avenue in St. Paul's Railroad Island neighborhood exploded. Homeowner John Lundahl, 80, was pulled from the rubble and taken to the hospital, where he is still in critical condition.
Firefighters who responded to the scene spoke to the public on Monday, saying it was "miraculous" that Lundahl survived. They said they could hear and feel the blast from the fire station, sitting around the kitchen table.
"Immediately everyone headed outside and we saw that the station was in tact and about a block away you could see a large plume of black smoke, and so everybody just got in their rigs and began to head that way," said Joaquin Rosales.
Rosales was the one who found Lundahl in the rubble.
"I began to hear some noises, you know, some groans and moans," he said. "Heeding some lessons from my captain about trying to just take a moment to slow things down and then create the calm amidst chaos, I think is a phrase that comes to mind, and I just started calling out and you could hear … the patient calling for help," he said.
Lundahl remains in critical condition at Regions. His family says he's still sedated but they are optimistic about his recovery.
The city inspector says the explosion damaged 20 buildings, including Lundahl's home, which was destroyed. Five other buildings have been condemned.
Joe Tel, who owns a business in one of those condemned buildings, said he's not sure when or if he'll be able to reopen. His convenience store was rocked by the blast, with light panels and parts of the ceiling falling to the ground.
"We'll just have to wait and see," Tel said.
The Red Cross is assisting more than a dozen people as they look for housing after the explosion. Some of the neighbors are staying with family, friends or even in hotels. One neighbor told KARE 11 she is in a hotel for the short-term, but does not know what she will do in the long-term.
The St. Paul Fire Foundation is now collecting donations for those displaced by the blast.
Investigators have not determined a cause but have not ruled anything out. The investigation could take weeks.