KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- A fiery explosion destroyed a West Knoxville home early Wednesday morning, blew a Bush Brothers vice president and his wife out a window. A body presumed to be their adult son was found later at the scene.
Although the names of the couple haven't been officially released, employers and neighbors said they're Stephen and Sue Krzeski.
Their son was Nick Krzeski. His body hasn't been officially identified yet, but it has been sent for an autopsy.
A female Great Dane was also thrown from the home during the explosion. She was critically injured and is hospitalized at the UT Veterinary School.
Steve and Sue Krzeski are hospitalized at UT Medical Center with severe head and other injuries.
Neighbors said they heard a loud explosion around 3:15 a.m., just minutes before the fire started at the Krzeski's home at 9140 Grey Pointe Drive in the Whittington Creek subdivision, off Northshore Drive.
"My wife and I were awakened by the explosion and it was a loud explosion. I thought maybe a plane had wrecked. We went out and looked out the front door and it was a wall of fire," said their neighbor, Jim Bondurant.
The Krzeskis were blown out of a back window.
Bondurant sprinted across the street and up the hill into the Krzeski's yard. He found the couple on the grass next to where their house once stood.
After Bondurant realized they were conscious, he ran back to his house to call 911 and grab blankets to keep them warm.
Bondurant said Sue Krzeski was moaning and Steve was on his back bleeding.
"He was alert and we asked him if anyone else was in the house and he said his son might be, that he'd been out the night before. He didn't know if he'd made it back yet, his son, Nick."
Bondurant said he tried to get as close to the house as possible, yelling and screaming for any sign of Nick, but the flames were too powerful.
"It was a wall of fire. It was quite an inferno and the flames were 30, 40, 50 feet high," Bondurant said.
"It was a mess out there. I've never seen anything like it, just broken bricks, glass, wood everywhere. It truly exploded, the whole house. One minute you had a large home. The next minute, it was gone. You had nothing but flames," Bondurant said.
There's speculation that a natural gas leak caused the explosion but KUB officials haven't confirmed this.
Neighbors said the couple had home health visits and oxygen tanks in their home. A neighbor also said the Krzeski's fireplace is being remodeled and Steve had smelled gas in the home previously.
Nick lived in the basement of the home. Crews used heavy equipment to move debris until they found the body.
Next door neighbors said the windows of their home were blown out during the explosion, but there were no serious injuries.
The foundation of where the Krzeski's home stood is still visible. It had been appraised in Knox County records at $856,900.
A joint investigation by KUB, Rural/Metro and the Knox County Rescue Squad continues.
Natural gas connections to about 50 homes in the area were shut off while investigators worked at the scene.
Steve Krzeski is the vice president and director of the supply chain at Bush Brothers and Company in Knoxville.
The company, which makes baked beans, released this statement Wednesday afternoon. "The company employees' thoughts and prayers are with Steve and his family. The Bush community is shocked and saddened by this tragedy."
He has worked for Bush since May 2008.
Nick Krzeski was enrolled at Farragut High School last year. According to a roster on the PrepXtra site, he was also on the Farragut basketball team.
Neighbors say they heard a loud explosion around 3:15 a.m., just minutes before the fire started at a house on Grey Pointe Drive in the Whittington Creek subdivision.
Flaming debris at the scene
This Google street view shows what the Krzeski's home looked like.
