March 22, 2020 3:40a; Updated 8:35p
(WGTD)---A body has been recovered from the south side Kenosha home that blew up early Sunday morning.
The man may have been sleeping in the basement at the time of the blast. A woman and another man were injured but got out of the flaming debris before firefighters arrived. One of the two was taken to a Milwaukee hospital for treatment of burns, according to Kenosha Fire Chief Charles Leipzig.
No names have been released.
Leipzig confirmed that the explosion may have been caused by a natural gas leak.
Firefighters were summoned to the 7800 blk. of 30th Ave. a little after 12:30 a.m.
Neighbor Wally Kukawski said he and his wife returned home late Saturday night and smelled the odor of natural gas. Kukawski walked to the back to investigate, but by then the odor seemed to have dissipated. He thought nothing more of it.
He and his wife turned in for the night, then a short while later were shaken by a blast. "It blew us right out of bed just about," he said.
Realizing the house next door was on fire, Kukawski put on his clothes and ran outside. He pulled a woman to safety through a window. Kukawski was joined by another rescuer in getting a man out. "He just kept saying there was one more person in the basement," Kukawski said. "We couldn't get to him," he said.
Kukawski's home, which he moved into just last Monday, sustained some siding and trim damage. But the home on the other side of the house that blew up was much more severely damaged, Leipzig said.
A city bus was brought in to serve as a warming shelter for neighbors who were forced to evacuate.
Area fire departments were called in to assist the Kenosha Fire Dept.
Firefighters were called back to the scene several times Sunday for flare-ups. 30th Ave. was block off for much of the day. .
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