Vacant house explodes on Gaywood Dr., 2 other homes also catch fire

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Investigators now believe leaking natural gas was likely the cause of a fire at a vacant house on Fort Wayne's southeast side that witnesses said exploded before it burst into flames.  While the investigation into the cause is not yet complete, evidence suggests gas lines had been cut.

Fort Wayne firefighters received calls of a house on fire in the 4000 block of Gaywood Drive. When crews arrived, they found the flames had also spread to a house on each side. The house that exploded was almost entirely leveled. Crews immediately put water on the adjacent houses to stop the fire from spreading.

Margit Codispoti lived in one of the houses, "I was awakened by a large explosion and it shook the house. I was pretty sure it wasn't my house but I ran to the window and looked out and saw the house next door and that it had blown up."

One of Codispoti's neighbors, in the second house that caught fire, ran over and pounded on the door to get her out of the house. He feared the gas line might explode again.

"I'm happy they (firefighters) were able to get the fire out quick enough to save my house for the most part. It looks like a lot of damage,"Codispoti said.

Neighbors lined the street, many came out of their own homes after hearing the loud explosion around 1 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Robert Lyons lives a few blocks away and was watching movies at his home. He said, "It was just a loud boom. And flames were passed the trees. The trees were on fire, both houses were on fire. It was just a big fire, something I had never seen before in my life."

It took crews a little more than thirty-minutes to get the fire under control.

There were no injuries.