An explosion destroyed a house outside Washington early Wednesday, hurtling two residents outside, police said.
The blast occurred just before 1:45 am at 24300 Farmdale Road, said Jeff Lower, chief deputy for the Tazewell County Sheriff's Office. Deputies, along with the Northern Tazewell Fire Department, arrived to find the property heavily strewn with debris, with the house fully ablaze, he said. They also found two residents — a husband and wife — outside the house.
The husband was lying about 20 feet from the house, conscious and asking for help.
A relative contacted on Facebook did not want to be named but said the victims are Paul and Valerie Litten. The relative said they were taken to a burn unit at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield and were expected to remain there at least through Thursday..
Lower said their injuries included severe burns and a broken leg to the wife, but were not life-threatening.
"You'd think that someone would die in something as bad as that," Lower said.
Debris littered the yard, and Northern Tazewell Fire Chief Rick Ragan said the fire destroyed two vehicles and stretched more than 150 feet from the house to the vehicles to a recreational vehicle which was obliterated.