116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Le Mars explosion injures 3 people, destroys homes
LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — An explosion Wednesday morning destroyed two houses in the northwest Iowa city of Le Mars and injured three people.
The 6:30 a.m. explosion demolished two adjacent houses and damaged a third house, Le Mars Fire-Rescue Chief Dave Schipper told the Sioux City Journal.
The people who were injured were inside or around one of the homes. Two were taken to a Le Mars hospital, and one was taken to a Sioux City hospital and later transferred to a burn center in Lincoln, Neb.
Schipper called it “very fortunate" that no one died in the explosion, which he thinks was caused by a gas leak.
The explosion shook homes blocks away and damaged doors and windows, including at a fire station.
Firefighters from Le Mars and the nearby communities of Orange City and Sioux Center helped extinguish the fires. Le Mars is a city of 10,500 about 150 miles northwest of Des Moines.
The explosion came a week after another home explosion hurt three people about 45 miles away in rural Battle Creek.
Firefighters and utilities crews work at the scene of an early morning explosion that leveled two houses and injured three people in Le Mars, Iowa, on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. (Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal via AP)
David Schipper (right), Le Mars Fire-Rescue chief, gestures as firefighters and utilities crews work at the scene of an early morning explosion that leveled two houses, damaged a third and injured a three people in Le Mars, Iowa, on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. (Tim Hynds/Sioux City Journal via AP)
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