Eden Prairie house explosion escape: 'It looked like doomsday'

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (FOX 9) - Nathaniel Wilkins was working an overnight shift when he got the news that his house was engulfed in flames.

"My heart stopped, but I thought it was a joke for a second. I’m like what do you mean my house exploded?" Wilkins said. "It was catastrophic, I’ve never seen an image of a place burned down so bad."

Wilkins's fiancée Sade Strong was inside the Eden Prairie home on June 2nd. She woke up from her sleep that night after sensing that something was amiss. When she looked out of a window, her lawn was on fire.

"It looked like doomsday outside of my window," Strong told FOX 9 on Tuesday.

An Eden Prairie family is rebuilding after massive fire destroyed their home.

Yet only minutes later, everyone had made it out of the home alive. The couple’s 5-year-old daughter was thrown out of a window to safety, while Sade grabbed the couple’s 1-month old-baby.

Their 51-year-old grandmother was hurt the worst, left with third-degree burns down her back after discovering the fire.

"The dog was barking at the door, so she followed the dog to the door," Wilkins explained. "As soon as she opened the door, she gave the fire oxygen and it came in forcefully, knocking the door off its hinges, hitting her in the face, and knocking her unconscious."

All that’s left of the home now is a crater. Wilkins young family has lost everything, but they are thankful to be alive. The house exploded less than a minute later after everyone made it, "it was something out of a movie," Wilkins said.

Investigators say the explosion was caused by empty medical-grade oxygen tanks. But the cause of the fire is still up in the air. 

In the meantime, community members have stepped up, donating more than $10,000 to an online fundraiser.

"For them we are thankful, we’re grateful," Wilkins finished.