The blast at a home in Northfield Center Township Monday night leveled the house and killed the four people who lived there, according to OH fire officials.
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The Northfield Center Township fire chief says it doesn’t appear that it was caused by a natural gas leak.
Neighbors reported hearing a blast around 8:30 p.m. It shook nearby homes.
The mother, Cindy Mather, and her daughters, eight-year-old Ruthie and 12-year-old Allison, were reportedly found huddled in the front of the home.
“The father was near the patio door inside the house that is where we found him”.
The victims have been identified as Jeffrey and Cynthia Mather, and their two daughters.
A spokesman for Dominion East Ohio Gas said investigators from the company are at the scene.
The couple purchased the 1994 two-story colonial home in 2007, according to Summit County property records.
The cause of the explosion remained under investigation. He told Cleveland.com that he and his son, Nate, rushed to the house and kicked in the front door.
“They just loved each other and they reached out and they loved the people around them wonderful people were just going to miss them so much”, says family friend Ann Humphrey. When firefighters arrived “the house was completely engulfed”.
Risko said this is his first deadly fire in the 25 years he has been with the department. “You’d do the same thing if you’ve got kids”, Nickschinski said. It was very eerie…. we were yelling and nothing. He told us, “It was hard to open, he finally got it open then I ran in there and that is when the dog come running out and I went around the family room into the kitchen and I didn’t see nothing just stuff flying everywhere”.
Nickschinski’s daughter, Danielle, said she had baby-sat for the two girls.
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“Right now they don’t suspect that it was gas”, said Risko.
