Elderly Woman survives house explosion

[TexasStooge]

By DON WALL / WFAA ABC 8

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas — An elderly woman survived a powerful explosion and fire that destroyed her home Friday morning.

"We heard a big boom," said neighbor Robert Amaro. "I came running out of the house; I looked at the house and it was already falling over to one side."

Amaro said he then began calling out for Monte Alspaugh, the 84-year-old woman who lived in the house.

"I looked for her, found her in front of the house, picked her up, carried her across the street," said Amaro, who was hailed as a hero by firefighters.

Alspaugh, who was apparently blown out of the house by the force of the 8 a.m. explosion, was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

"She was fine, she was responding," Amaro said. "How she survived the big boom, I don't know."

Amaro said flames engulfed Alspaugh's house, which was a total loss.

"Monte's a very strong woman," Amaro said. "She does a lot of things around the neighborhood, she's very strong, and it was amazing that she was able to survive that."

"After 25 years, I cease to be amazed at how people survive some of the tragedies we see," said Grand Prairie Fire Department Assistant Chief Mike Sieg. "How she survived that is beyond all of us, but we're glad that she did."

Investigators said it was too early to tell what caused the explosion. Representatives of TXU Energy at the scene said they could find no evidence that a natural gas leak was responsible.