Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Amanda Butterfield reportingAn Idaho family's life changed in a flash, the flash of a propane explosion. It obliterated their house while they were inside. Investigators say it's a wonder any of them survived.
Buck Hedges is badly burned over about 20 percent of his body after his house exploded in McCammon, Idaho. The cause has not been confirmed, but at this point investigators believe it was a propane leak.
It's the second blast in fewer than two weeks we've reported in which investigators say the family inside should not have survived. Hedges is being treated at the burn unit at the University Hospital.
Wednesday night, Buck and Sara Hedges had just put their son to bed when their house exploded. They all survived, but Buck got the worst of it. Today he told us he's feeling great, at least as great as you can feel after surviving an explosion and fire, and losing everything but your life.
Buck's brother, Jed Hedges, said, "Their house, their clothes, their pictures, everything's gone. Nothing but a smoking hole in the ground."
Jed Hedges, Buck's brother, tells us that when the blast happened, the young family was settling down for bed. Sarah had just curled up with their dog on the couch when it hit.
"She came to flying through the air. She landed 30 feet across the front lawn driveway and all that," Jed said.
She heard 2-year-old Zane crying, she crawled to him and dug him out.
Jed told KSL, "Luckily he only had a slight burn on his hand and bruise on his face."
Buck wasn't so lucky. The family invited us in the burn unit to meet him. Today is the first day he's been able to talk since the explosion. He told us, "There was a flash, and when I opened my eyes, I was under the roof. I was trapped."
Corporal Jeff Young saw the explosion and rushed to help. He said, "I looked down and could see his face and his left hand. I didn't know how to get to him. He was just begging me not to let him burn to death. I couldn't watch a man die in front of his wife and son."
Buck was burned over 20 percent of his body and flown to University Hospital. His brother drove up from Vernal to meet him and try to help lift his spirits.
Jed said, "Then he was concerned, does he have all his fingers and toes? I said, ‘Everything there's but the hair man, you're doing good,' ha."
The Hedges don't have health insurance, and Buck will probably be in the hospital a long time, but Jed says his brother will pull through, somehow. "My brother is strong," he said.
Buck is being treated just down the hall from the Jensens, the couple from Sanpete County who also survived when their home exploded due to a propane leak early last week. Bud and Karen Jensen were injured in the blast and suffered second and third-degree burns over about 30 percent of their bodies.
If you'd like to help the Hedges family, you can donate to any Key Bank in Utah to the 'Buck and Sarah Hedges in Idaho' donation fund.
