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POLICE AND FIRE INVESTIGATORS ARE WORKING AROUND THE CLOCK -- AFTER AN EXPLOSION AND
FIRE COMPLETELY LEVELED A PROSPECT HOME THIS WEEKEND.
TONIGHT, NEIGHBORS ARE SPEAKING OUT-- SAYING THE BLAST HAD MUCH MORE FORCE BEHIND IT THAN
A PROPANE TANK COULD CAUSE. NBC5'S NATALIE WEBER JOINS US LIVE IN STUDIO
WITH MORE, NATALIE? KASSI, KRISTIN -- I SPOKE WITH A NUMBER OF
PEOPLE TODAY, WHO ALL TELL ME THE BLAST WAS NOT JUST AN EXPLOSION -- THEY DESCRIBE IT
AS A DETONATION.
BERG: "Occasionally you'll hear a gunshot go off or people, light firecrackers for something,
but this was something different." CHARLES BERG TELLS ME HE'S A RETIRED FIREFIGHTER
WITH THE FRESNO FIRE DEPARTMENT, AND FORMER ARSON INVESTIGATOR.
HE LIVES LESS THAN A MILE AWAY FROM THE HOUSE ON FLOUNCE ROCK ROAD -- WHERE AN EXPLOSION
HAPPENED SATURDAY NIGHT. BUT ACCORDING TO BERG --
BERG: "It wasn't an explosion, it was a detonation." ANOTHER NEIGHBOR I SPOKE WITH SATURDAY NIGHT --
MICHAEL VINEYARD -- MADE A SIMILAR STATEMENT. VINEYARD: "It looked like the house had C4
underneath it, and it went off." BOTH MEN HEARD THE BLAST, CALLED 9-1-1, AND
THEN RAN UP TO THE HOUSE. "We pushed through the gate and went up, and the first thing
we saw was the garage had completely disintegrated, and there was debris everywhere as we went
up, there was beams, and still after all this time, there was still pieces of insulation
falling from the sky." AFTER SEARCHING THE AREA FOR PEOPLE, THEY
BACKED AWAY, AND WAITED FOR FIRE CREWS, WHO ARRIVED A SHORT TIME LATER.
ACCORDING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS -- PROPANE SUPPLIERS EXAMINED THE TANK TODAY -- AND FOUND
IT WAS NOT PART OF THE EXPLOSION. TO BERG -- THAT ADDS UP.
BERG: "Every propane tank fire or petroleum fire I've been on, when they blow up, there's
a lot of energy, but not a pressure wave like that."
IN INTERVIEWS, THE HOMEOWNERS HAVE ALLEGED THAT SOMEONE MAY HAVE DONE THIS ON PURPOSE
WITH MALICIOUS INTENT. BERG: "From listening to the news, and them
saying the interviewed the gentleman that lived there, he's claiming that that is what
occurred. I would naturally think that if I was storing anything like high explosives,
C4, that kind of thing, that would probably be my story too."
BERG TELLS ME HE DOESN'T KNOW THE HOMEOWNERS, BUT SAYS HE IS IN COMMUNICATION WITH OTHER
NEIGHBORS -- WHO HAVEN'T REPORTED ANYTHING SUSPICIOUS LATELY.
BERG: "It's a very big surprise to me that, people living in a house like that, it seemed
like a very nice house to me, I think they have a pool, private gated thing, that somebody
would want to do something to them that violent, kind of a thing, I mean it was just so much
overkill." THE INFORMATION GIVEN BY WITNESSES HAS NOT
BEEN CONFIRMED BY POLICE, OFFICERS ARE CONTINUING THEIR INVESTIGATION AND ARE NOT OPENLY SPEAKING
ABOUT THE CASE AT THIS TIME. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION, CALL OREGON STATE
POLICE AT THE NUMBER ON YOUR SCREEN -- THAT'S 776-6236.
LIVE IN STUDIO, NATALIE WEBER, NBC5 NEWS.