4 hurt in explosion at Madison condo building

MADISON Wis. (CBS 58) -- It could take days to find out what caused a condo to explode in Madison, investigators said Wednesday.

Four people were injured and nearly two dozen were displaced after the blast when off just before 6 p.m. last night on the 900 block of South Gammon Road in Madison.

This morning investigator were able to get a better look inside the building to see what might have caused the explosion, but for now, they're not releasing any details as it's an on-going investigation.

Clean up began around noon at the Windsor Condominiums where crews began demoing the unit. The Madison Fire Department said the building that exploded housed eight condo unites and another eight unit building next door was also impacted by the blast. Between both buildings 21 people were displaced.

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The impact of the explosion blew out multiple doors, windows and damaged many surrounding homes.
Neighbors who witnessed the explosion said it felt like a bomb had gone off.

"My shelving, my pictures blew right off the walls, and I had some glass vases on top of entertainment center and those just blew up," said Gail Rychlowski. "It looks like someone took a baseball bat in there."

While the cause of the explosion remains unclear, a handful of neighbors who spoke to CBS 58 said they smelt has afterwards. While home explosions are rare, the National Fire Protection Association said most often leaks from gas-powered kitchen appliances are the cause in most household explosions.

Resident Francie Nickels, who's lived at the Windsor Condominiums for over 30 years, said she's thankful everyone will be okay.

"I've been here 35 years and I never experienced anything like this," Nickels said. "I'm just thinking about the guy that was injured because his face, his arms were pretty bad. It was something I don't want to have to happen again you know."

Four people were treated with injuries, one of those is a man who lived in the unit were the blast occurred. Officials said he was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.