Home leveled by explosion in The Colony, fire damages nearby houses

THE COLONY, Texas - Just before 1 a.m. Monday, a home in The Colony exploded and erupted in flames. It happened in the 4600 block of Freeman Dr.

The Colony House Explosion

What we know:

Firefighters arrived to find the one-story brick home engulfed in flames. Houses on both sides and behind the home were also on fire. 

Firefighters called for a third alarm response, bringing help from multiple departments. The house that exploded was leveled. 

As of 7 a.m., one of the nearby homes caught fire. Firefighters were working to put out the fire in the roof and chimney.

As of last check, no injuries have been reported.

Local perspective:

 The voice of Daniel Siguenza, still in a daze, abruptly awakened, can be overheard on the phone after his next-door neighbor's home exploded early Monday morning.

"The whole thing blew up...holy (bleep) something is going on."

In the daylight, Siguenza shows FOX 4 the damage left behind. A charred fence and some fire damage to the roof. He helped to get his entire family to safety.

"We have a little smoke in the attic too so they're wanting us to get out as soon as possible," said Siguenza.

"I start waking everyone up knocking at doors just trying to get everyone up and out and 30 seconds later cops knock on our door telling us to get out, that there's a fire."

What they're saying:

The home, located on Freeman Drive just off North Colony Boulevard, exploded just before 1 A.M. Flames quickly began engulfing the one-story structure. The sound seemed to wake up the entire neighborhood.

"Boom! You know, very big, boom!," said neighbor, Tho Nguyen.

According to The Colony Fire Department, no one was inside the home at the time of the blast. Some of the embers spread to Brandon Luna's house, prompting firefighters to upgrade the incident to a 3-alarm response.

"All of a sudden, I hear a huge explosion. The house shook, the shockwaves felt like they traveled through you," said Luna.

Luna grabbed his cats and cell phone and ran outside.

"Saw the house was already engulfed in flames, walls were protruding outward, the front door outward."

Dig deeper:

His house suffered some smoke and fire damage. The heat fried his and neighbor Daniel Siguenza's electrical boxes. They've got to find another place to stay until they can get it fixed. Those in the area were amazed that no one was hurt.

"Oh, it's awful. I've seen housing burn down before, but this one you know there had to be an explosion. I heard it," said nearby neighbor Dan McNew. 

"It wasn't like a fire started, and it got bigger it just happened all at once."

"My prayers to them because it was bad."

What we don't know:

The Denton County Arson Task Force is investigating the circumstances surrounding the explosion and fire.

This is a developing story.

The Colony