A Saratoga Springs home exploded Tuesday evening due to a gas leak, killing the homeowner and a utility worker.
At about 4 p.m., Questar workers gave 24-year-old homeowner April Roper the OK to re-enter her house after a gas line that had been punctured by contract workers had been repaired, said Sgt. Spencer Cannon of the Utah County Sheriff's Office.
The home exploded just minutes later, killing Roper and 48-year-old Questar employee Larry Radford, who entered the house with her.
The woman's 16-month-old daughter was outside of the home with a baby sitter at the time of the explosion and was taken to the Primary Children's Hospital for precautionary reasons. The child had been knocked down by the explosion and suffered minor facial injuries.
The baby sitter, who was a neighbor of the Ropers, was not hurt. The woman's husband, Greg Roper, was not injured, as he was down the street at the time.
The bodies of Roper and Radford were found in the remaining debris during a search.
'We're pretty sure they were in the basement at the time of the explosion,' Cannon said. 'The house was fully engulfed in flames. It was just destroyed and a total loss.'
The explosion , left only part of the three-car-garage standing, Cannon said. A few neighboring homes which were still under construction were slightly damaged.
There was a car in the garage at the time, but did not appear to be a total loss.
The Ropers had lived in the home about a month, Cannon said. The home was in Sunrise Meadows, a subdivision located on the west side of Saratoga Springs.
Cannon said the exact cause of the explosion is not yet known, although there was definitely enough gas in the air cause the explosion.
'There was a certain gas mixture in the air and there would have had to have been an ignition source,' Cannon said. 'We don't know if it was electricity, them turning on a light, or the process of them trying to light something else. We just don't know.'
Cannon added that an accident like this is not common.
'It's a very hard time for both families,' Cannon said.