NEVADA — A rural Crawford County family is beginning to recover from an explosion, which led to the loss of their residence early Monday morning.

Robert and Karina Barry considered themselves fairly lucky after their kitchen lay in ruins and their entire residence at 564 Spore-Brandywine Road sits turned on its foundation.

Everyone was safe and unharmed, despite a few cuts and scrapes.

An explosion in the basement and through the kitchen cause the house shift, including the wall of the Robert and Karina Barry’s son’s bedroom and the chimney. (Photo by James Massara)

Shortly after 6 a.m. Monday, Karina was making coffee as her husband prepared for his workday.

Then a flash and a flame lit up the back of the residence.

Karina said she had left the kitchen and was coming back from the dining room just in time to see the explosion come up from the basement. She said Robert came in to check on her to make sure she was unharmed.

“My husband came in to make sure I was alright. He didn’t think I was going to be alright,” Karina said. “I said, ‘I’m fine, just get the ceiling off of me.’”

After helping remove Karina from the debris, the couple got their 15-year-old daughter who had woken up from the sound of the explosion and took her and the family puppy out through a front window. The windows had been blown out in the front of the house from the explosion.

The Barry family had to escape their residence through the front windows which were blown out from the force of the explosion. (Photo by James Massara)

Robert then reentered the residence to rescue the family’s oldest dog that was hiding behind a dresser in the upstairs area of the house. The family then called 9-1-1.

A little longer than 24 hours later, Karina said her family was counting its blessings.

She said her two younger children had spent the night at their grandparents’ house. She said that led to two safe children not having to escape the house. She also said the suspected cause of a propane leak and explosion was minimized by the amount of propane in the tank.

“They say to fill the tank when it hits about 25 percent,” Karina said. “When they checked the tank, it was at about 14 percent which probably kept the damage to a lesser amount.”

She said the damage to the family’s material things also was minimized after the fire was kept mainly in the basement and kitchen by the Wyandot East firefighters, and the family was able to remove multiple items from the house Tuesday afternoon.

Despite the explosion, many of the family’s material belongings were salvageable after the fire crews worked on the house. (Photo by James Massara)

Family and friends have been donating food and other items already, and even strangers have been donating money to assist the family. Karina said donations from a stranger who stopped on the road and gave $200, to a neighbor’s church that gave the family $1,000 have helped the family feel the love and support of the local community.

The fire investigator, who was on the scene Tuesday afternoon, requested a chain-link fence be put around the structure, as it could be seen still shifting on the foundation on Tuesday, Karina said.

In the meantime, the Barry’s are staying in an RV owned by Robert’s parents until a 38-foot trailer is delivered in the next week.

Karina said it’s not an ideal situation, but her family is safe, which is what matters.

“We’ve gotten a lot of support already and it keeps coming,” Karina said. “We’re safe and I think we’re going to be ok.”