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Explosion levels home in Benton County

BENTON CO., Ind. (WLFI) –  An explosion leveled a Benton County home and may have been started by a gas leak.

The Fowler Fire Department got the call just before noon Wednesday at the 8900 block of County Road W. 44 North.

Smoke coming from the home could be seen more than 10 miles away. The explosion caught surrounding trees on fire.

The owner of the home, Lon Rhanor, was not in the house during the explosion. Although, he did call it in.

Assistant Fire Chief Mike Sondgeroth said none of the surrounding homes were damaged by the explosion.

“Basically, there’s nothing affecting the neighbors other than that we have to do a little bit of clean up as far as the road goes. Most of the explosion was contained on the property,” said Sondgeroth.

Firefighters were able to put out those flames within 30 minutes.

No injuries were reported.