Lake Zurich Fire Department: 77-year-old man killed in explosion that destroyed house on Overhill Drive

LAKE ZURICH, Ill. (WLS) – One person died when an explosion destroyed a home in Lake Zurich on Tuesday evening, authorities said.

The Lake Zurich Fire Department received calls about an explosion at 23549 N. Overhill Road around 8:28 p.m., the Lake Zurich Fire Department said.

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“The flames were so intense that the trees caught fire,” said Mark Schultz, a resident of the neighborhood. “I actually saw branches falling on the heads of the firefighters. It was a very dangerous situation.”

Moments later, firefighters arrived to find the house engulfed in flames. They immediately began to contain the fire while evacuating residents from surrounding homes.

“Just like that, the house exploded and then there was a loud bang and then I ran,” said local resident Emanuel Hernandez. “It was just a lot in one moment.”

Firefighters initially had great difficulty putting out the fire because there are no fire hydrants in the unincorporated neighborhood and they were unable to extinguish the fire. Crews also had trouble shutting off the gas lines. Authorities said the gas meter was destroyed and crews had to wait for NICOR to clear the natural gas line to shut off the gas and put out the flames.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said a body was recovered from the rubble. The Lake County Coroner is still trying to identify the 77-year-old man who died in the fire, but said he is believed to be the owner of the home, whose whereabouts are still unknown.

“He’s retired,” said neighbor Tiffany Koch. “But he was actually more of a loner. He was all by himself.”

“When my kids had fundraisers for school, we would go door to door to our neighbors,” said neighbor Wil Juarez. “He was very nice. He was one of those guys who bought something every year and said, ‘Come back next year.'”

Juarez said the homeowner lives alone and has no children.

The security system in Ulises Hernandez’s house detected the moment of the explosion and caused his son and his friend, who were playing outside, to run away.

“They actually saw the explosion,” said Ulises Hernandez. “One of the neighborhood kids was thrown down and then you see in the actual footage where you see the fire and the explosion.”

Residents across the block reported feeling their homes shake from the explosion, although they didn’t initially know what it was. Koch said the explosion even ripped some items out of the wall of her home.

“It was close and not knowing what it was. I think the worst part was that we didn’t know what was going on,” she said.

Chopper7 was above the scene of the house being leveled by the explosion. Investigators are on site trying to determine how the house was blown up.

“They don’t want to be pigeonholed or fixated on one thing without looking at everything,” said David Pilgard, Lake Zurich Fire Chief.

All neighbors died, no firefighters were injured.