House explodes, catches fire on Judy Lane

An explosion occurred at a home in the 600 block of Judy Lane in Copperas Cove shortly before noon Tuesday, and crews from Fort Hood, Killeen and Copperas Cove battled the subsequent house fire that ensued for more than an hour. 

“A 11:51, we received a dispatch call for an explosion at a home. While en route, we received feedback that there were multiple calls about a fire associated with the explosion. While we were still en route to the call, we found out that there were at least one injured, maybe more, but that wasn’t clear until we got there,” said Copperas Cove Deputy Fire Chief Gary Young.

When the first unit arrived, they found a victim in the street and rendered aid to that individual, who was immediately transported via ambulance to Baylor Scott & White in Temple, Young added. He said EMS units from Killeen also provided assistance with assessing other potential victims.

“There was a lot of excitement and confusion, of course, when we first got here. We requested Fort Hood to assist with firefighting,” said Young. Fort Hood sent a fire truck, a ladder truck, and chief officer, which is their standard response for assistance with incidents like Tuesday’s fire.

“At this point in time, we do not have any other information on the victim. I know there is one, but I don’t know how bad they are injured.”

Crews are working now to get the property safe enough to access so the investigation into the cause of the explosion and fire can begin.

It’s going to be a while because the whole house ended up catching fire, so we need to get that situation stabilized before anyone can get in to conduct the investigation,” Young said. “There is a lot of data gathering and sorting out what is relevant, what is false, and what is opinion. It’s going to be a while.”

Neighbors were evacuated from nearby homes as a precaution, and electricity and gas were disconnected to the property. No additional homes were damaged. However, one home adjacent to the property that shared a utility pole was without power while responders worked. Officials as well as Atmos Energy confirmed the incident was not related to a natural gas issue.