Elk River man improving after blast

Renee Jones Schneider, Star Tribune

The remains of a workshop after an explosion that sent shock waves through most of the city of Elk River. A spark from an electric saw ignited a propane line connected from the shed to a house.

The 72-year-old is lucky to have survived after being hit on the head by debris, hospital officials say.

By NICOLE TOMMERDAHL and ALLIE SHAH, Star Tribune staff writers

Last update: March 6, 2009 - 6:48 AM

An Elk River man's condition is improving after he was critically hurt this week when an explosion seriously damaged his house.

Hospital officials said Thursday that Vern Ohman, 72, is lucky to have survived the blast. He is in a medically induced coma at Hennepin County Medical Center.

Ohman was injured about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday when the electric saw he had been using sparked an explosion in the workshop several yards outside his home.

Police believe Ohman hit an electrical switch to use the saw, causing a spark that ignited propane in a line connecting the shed to the house. The state Office of Pipeline Safety will investigate the blast.

He was hit on the head with a piece of debris in the blast and is lucky to have survived, said Dr. Leslie Smith, assistant director of HCMC's Burn Center. He is expected to receive treatment for several weeks, said Smith, who noted that Ohman's family was in good spirits.

Ohman will likely have to undergo skin grafts, she said.

The blast ripped doors from frames and blew out windows in the house and created shock waves that could be felt through most of the city, Elk River Police Chief Jeffrey Bea- hen said.

"The whole inside of the house is tore up," Beahen said.

Neighbors' descriptions of the explosion's sound ranged from an airplane crashing to a bomb dropping to a furnace blowing up.

The Brodzinski family, who are next-door neighbors to the Ohmans, were living out of a hotel Thursday because they weren't sure their home is structurally safe.

Merry Brodzinski pointed to cracks on the walls and in the ceiling as she described how the roof lifted up during the blast. "We can't live here now," said Brodzinski, who was planning to hold one of her children's birthday parties at the hotel.

Ohman told police that he had a propane tank on his property filled Tuesday, and that he had smelled propane in the workshop before the blast.

Amid a deluge of 911 calls, police narrowed in on Oh- man after receiving several 911 hang-up calls from him. Beahen said Ohman probably hung up because he couldn't hear dispatchers.

Ohman was lucky to have been standing near the center of the explosion, Beahen said.

"If he had been farther away I'm positive he would have been killed instantly," he said.

Nicole Tommerdahl is a University of Minnesota student reporter on assignment for the Star Tribune. Allie Shah • 612-673-4488

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