Riverside explosion

 Explosion In Riverside, Calif. Destroys One Home, Sets Fire To Another

A fiery explosion leveled one Southern California home, damaged two others and shook the neighborhood before dawn Friday, jolting residents awake but causing no apparent injuries.

Authorities were called to the home in Riverside, about 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, shortly after 4 a.m. after neighbors reported hearing the booming blast.

They found the house "completely blown up," fire Capt. Bruce Vanderhorst said. Eight fire engines were called in to deal with a blaze coming from a gas meter.

Television news reports showed the home on Cochise Drive reduced to nothing but twisted metal and blackened wreckage, with a tongue of fire flaring in the middle of it.

The home had been undergoing renovation for about a month and was vacant, Vanderhorst said.

The Gas Co. said a preliminary investigation has determined that the gas main pipeline and the service line up to the gas meter were in safe operating condition, and that no leaking was detected.

The cause of the explosion remained under investigation. Vanderhorst told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that he believes gas built up in the house before the blast.

A home next door was on fire, and another had lesser damage, Vanderhorst said.

Wayne Keller and his wife, holding their dog, stood outside their badly damaged home, near the house that was leveled.