Neighbors Startled After Garage Explodes in Amarillo’s Southlawn

Last night residents in the South Lawn area had their world rocked for a minute after an explosion occurred.

Get our free mobile app

The Amarillo Fire Department responded to a call of an explosion in the 3100 Block of South Monroe on Monday, November 14th, around 10:30 pm.  One of the units found that a detached garage has collapsed and had a small fire and smoke.  AFD was able to get it extinguished.  The occupant of the home was outside when AFD arrived, spoke with firefighters, and was transported to a local hospital.  A total of 6 units and 18 firefighters were sent to the scene.

The Fire Marshall's Office conducted their investigation on the scene, and after talking with the occupant, they found that the occupant was working in the garage on a vehicle when the explosion occurred.  Since multiple causes for the explosion could not be ruled out the Fire Marshal ruled the cause of the fire undetermined.

According to a neighbor Jericha Portwood

We ran outside and all of our neighbors felt it we had no idea what happened and all of sudden we saw the garage of a neighbor up in flames immediately! My neighbor immediately started dialing 911, The firefighters are located across the street at the new fire department and they felt it there and were already on their way as the call came in! Within two minutes the fire department was already there thank god because it engulfed the entire garage in seconds! The homeowner is a mechanic and his wife said her guess was probably lighting his propane heater because he was still out there working in the freezing cold! She was asleep inside with their animals thank god! He was taken by ambulance to BSA to be looked at, I’m unsure of his condition.

Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt in the explosion.  This is a reminder to remain extra careful when working on a vehicle in your resident garage.