Man dies after home explosion in Walworth County

 

Updated: July 3, 2024

WALWORTH COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A man hospitalized following a home explosion in Walworth County, has died. 

The Walworth County Sheriff's Office identified the victim as 68-year-old Leland Holden. 

Published: July 2, 2024

WALWORTH COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- One man is hospitalized and the house he was in, gone, after an explosion in Walworth County. It happened Tuesday afternoon in the Town of Lafayette between Elkhorn and East Troy.

A large tree line outside the house, which neighbors say was once part of a pine tree farm, essentially acted as a barrier after Tuesday's eruption, protecting other homes in the area when the house in the middle of those trees exploded, blowing debris some 300 feet away.

"Like a bomb went off, shook the house," said Everett Bladow, neighbor.

The sound brought Everett Bladow to his feet.

"I'm still shaking from it, so I'm not settled down from it yet," said Bladow.

He lives just two doors down, along rural Kulow Road between County Highway ES and Scotch Bush Road, but people from several miles away say they too could feel the explosion in their homes.

"And first thing I did, I come out, I thought it was my house, and I come out and there's insulation flying around like it was snow," said Bladow.

White fluffy stuff, floating in the area, the only remnants of the house that made it over that thick tree line.

"I wasn’t sure what it was, you know, what is this? You know, is it insulation? What is it? And Craig just said it's got to be a house explosion. It's got to be one of the houses here," said Diane Riese, neighbor.

Diane Riese lives right next door, thankful she's okay. Her thoughts are now with the family of the man who was rushed from the scene by helicopter.

"Number of years ago they built a really nice house back in there, and that's what exploded. Just hope everybody is gonna be ok," said Riese.

The Walworth County Sheriff's Officer rushed to the scene around 2:20 p.m., followed by Elkhorn area firefighters, and began to search for survivors in the only thing left to the structure, the basement.

"I know he made verbal contact with my crews and my crews dug their way to him. So it was just a matter of getting the crews down in there, having to watch where you're walking - wood, debris everywhere, and digging their way through it until they found him," said Elkhorn Area Fire Chief Trent Eichmann.

The Elkhorn area fire chief thanked the upwards of 60 fire personnel on scene.

"You know, as they got tired, as they went through air, swapping out personnel and just a continuous line of people in there getting debris out until they got that gentleman out. So I am very happy with everybody that we had on scene today," said Chief Eichmann.

The sheriff says there is nothing criminal about what happened. They hope to learn more about what caused it in the coming days as the Elkhorn Area Fire Department is assisted by the state fire marshal in conducting the investigation.

This is a developing story. Stick with CBS 58 on air and online for updates.