CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — Clay County Sheriff’s Office investigators say a natural gas leak ignited when a dryer was turned on, causing a home in the Wilford Preserve neighborhood to explode.
The blast sent four people to the hospital. They’re expected to be OK.
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Some neighbors are concerned now that their homes weren’t equipped to detect gas leaks when they were built.
Jordan Gross lives in the Wilford Preserve community, too.
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He said that when he learned of the home explosion, he went looking for the gas detectors in his house.
Gross said all the homes in his neighborhood were built by Dream Homes Finders and are powered by natural gas.
He shared a document with Action News Jax, which shows a list of features that come with the homes.
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The list shows that every house comes built with a smoke detector that has carbon monoxide sensors, but there is no mention of gas detectors on the list.
That’s when Gross said he realized his home was built without one.
“We’ve just been totally unaware of the danger that we’ve been living in,” he said.
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From then on, Gross said he alerted his neighbors to the discovery. Now, he and other people in the community say they’re purchasing gas detectors of their own.
“I would’ve thought in a natural gas community that they would have included natural gas detectors with building our house,” Gross said.
TECO, the energy company that provides natural gas, said it serves more than 60,500 commercial and residential customers in Duval County, and it delivers natural gas to about 1,700 commercial and residential customers in Clay County.
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Its website lists safety tips for their gas customers and what to do if you suspect a leak.
Action News Jax has been investigating claims of issues with the Dream Finders Homes company for years. Click here to read our 2023 investigation and click here to read our 2017 investigation.
We reached out to the attorney who represents the company to ask more questions about the homes in Wilford Preserve not being built with gas detectors.
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At the time of this publication, we hadn’t heard back yet.
The family whose home exploded said they are shaken up, and their grandmother was burned in the blast.
They are raising money to rebuild their home after the explosion. To learn more about their GoFundMe, click here.
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