Frank Cullum, Central firefighter, said the woman was transported to Sequoyah Memorial Hospital in Sallisaw for the injuries she sustained during the explosion.
Paula Wadman spoke to Your TIMES from her hospital room Friday morning. She was anticipating that she would be released from the hospital Friday, and was going to have outpatient therapy for the burns she suffered to her hands and face.
She said her neighbors, Jackie Coleman, and another man pulled her and her small dog from the home, owned by Sharon Siemens of Hanson, before firefighters were able to get to the scene.
"The propane heater just blew up," Wadman said.
She said she was asleep in a recliner when suddenly the roof blew off and the impact threw her into a bedroom. The front of the house then blew off, and neighbors rushed to help her.
Cullum said the Central Volunteer Fire Department responded to the fire, but the house, which was literally blown up, was a total loss.
He said they suspect a propane leak was the cause of the fire, and the propane tank had been filled that afternoon. Cullum said propane is a heavy gas that stays low to the ground. He said something may have clicked on in the house, such as a refrigerator, and the gas was ignited.
Wadman said the propane tank was filled at about 3 p.m. that day when her roommate, Siemens, was home.
Cullum said this time of year people need to be aware of propane gas. He said residents should have their furnaces checked out before they turn on the propane to heat their homes.
He said the home the woman was living in was an older house that had been remodeled, and the gas lines may have been old.
Cullum, who lives about 150 yards away from the woman, said he felt the explosion, and thought it was a train carrying a tanker that had exploded before realizing it was the woman's home.
He said this is the second propane explosion in the Hanson community in the past 10 years.
