That feeling of gratitude

Collins family survives home explosion, thanks first responders

By Ben Cox
Photos/Ben Cox

On October 14, Kelly and Johnny Collins came home to their house, located in the 2100 block of East Morton Avenue, smelling of gas. The couple began opening windows and trying to get their animals out.

Johnny Collins said he returned to the kitchen when he was met with a ball of flame that blew him backward against a wall, pinning him behind a table. Kelly Collins was blown backward and around a corner. Little did they know, but the home, built in the early 1940s by Kelly’s grandfather, who used wood he collected from the Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago, had just exploded and was leveled to the ground.

Driving by the site today, it would be hard to think that anyone could have survived. WLDS Radio employees said they felt the explosion at their Old State Road address shortly before going on the air for the 5 o’clock evening news.

Morgan County Emergency Management Director Phil McCarty, who was on his way out of town to officiate games, said he saw debris off to his left out of his truck window and immediately pulled over and called the West Central Joint Dispatch.

By that time, several people who were in the two nearby gambling parlors had already placed multiple calls to 911 about the home explosion.

McCarty said when he got to the scene, he could smell the gas pouring from where the meter had been on the house.

Once firefighters were on scene, one of the Collinses’ pit bulls, Diesel, led firefighters to Kelly in the rubble. Johnny was not far away and was calling out to see if Kelly was alive. McCarty says he was surprised both Kelly and Johnny were alive after the explosion.

“The two of them should not be here by all evidence of things. I’ve seen a lot less damage have much worse outcomes,” McCarty told them in a meeting with Jacksonville firefighters on October 28.

“The gas meter was completely blown off the house. There was 50 psi of gas going out into the atmosphere. The fact that there was so much gas going into the house is likely why there wasn’t a fire. There wasn’t enough oxygen.”

McCarty points to the fact that with the opening of the windows in the house, the threshold of oxygen to natural gas mixed just enough to trigger the explosion. Both Kelly and Johnny Collins sustained extensive burns on their extremities. Johnny Collins also sustained burns to his airway, requiring over a week’s stay in intensive care in Springfield.

“I didn’t really care for the helicopter ride,” Kelly Collins smiles. Johnny Collins says he remembers a little bit of the paramedics stabilizing him before he woke up in the hospital intubated due to the burns to his airway. He remembers telling the paramedics that his wife wasn’t a fan of helicopters.

At the October 28 meeting, Kelly Collins flexed her hands for the firefighters, showing that she had regained movement. The movement, though painful, was amazing progress. She pulled off a baseball cap to show that she had lost a significant amount of hair from the explosion, but most had started to grow back. “I don’t take off my hat for just anyone these days,” she laughs.

She’s also glad she got to keep her manicured and painted nails despite the burns to her hands.

Johnny Collins says he was surprised at the strength of the firefighters who were able to pull him out of the house. “I’m not a small guy and they hoisted me up out of the rubble pretty quick,” he says.

The firefighters complimented the Collinses on their two large dogs, Gatlin and Diesel. Firefighters said they were amazed that the dogs weren’t aggressive, and instead were a calming force for the Collinses after the explosion.

Gatlin is recovering from a gash on his side from the explosion that required staples to repair. Diesel, the gray pit bull that led firefighters to Kelly, is allegedly a lap dog.

“He’s a big teddy bear,” Kelly says, “He actually sits on my lap.” Unfortunately, the Collinses lost their little white shih tzu/Jack Russell terrier mix, Lily, in the explosion.

The Collinses, as of the time of this writing, had not returned to the site since the explosion and getting out of the hospital.

“It’s going to be emotional and hard,” Kelly Collins says, noting that she grew up in the home that her grandfather had built.

Johnny Collins says the plans are to clean up the site and put a modular home there. “No gas, anything in the house,” he says.

Kelly Collins says she’s going to have to learn a few new things, too. “I’ve never learned to cook on an electric stove, but you can bet I’m going to learn,” she laughs.

McCarty says that the investigations into why there was a gas leak and why there was an explosion are currently ongoing.

“With this having no fire and with as much gas being pushed out into the air, the State Fire Marshal’s office has turned this over to the Illinois Commerce Commission. Ameren is doing their due diligence to see if this was a pipeline failure,” McCarty explains.

McCarty says they had to seal the steel pipe off at the ground with a special plug because the explosion had destroyed the meter. McCarty says he was on site with Ameren investigators and the state fire marshal’s investigators until early the next morning trying to figure out what exactly had happened the day of the explosion. McCarty says there was some good fortune in that the explosion didn’t set off two large propane tanks that sit just north of the house.

For now, the Collinses are still recovering at their daughter’s home as clean up of the site continues. The Jacksonville Police Department has set up a video trailer at the site. Shortly after the explosion, looters were seen taking things from the remains of the Collins home.

Johnny Collins recalls looking for his cell phone. “We were able to get some family pictures and other items like our personal effects,” Kelly Collins says. Her husband’s cell phone ended up being found lodged inside a jar of peanut butter. His truck outside ended up not being so lucky, as it caught the brunt of heavy parts of the house that were blown apart.

The Collins family is currently in need of home goods like blankets, towels, dishes and washcloths, among other items. A benefit is being held at the Post 279 American Legion in Jacksonville on December 6, starting at 1 p.m.