The Ohio State Fire Marshal's Office has released a report revealing the suspected cause of a deadly home explosion in Ellsworth Township back in October of 2024.

The report indicates that the explosion at a home on the 8500 Block of Huxley Road in October was caused by a propane leak. The explosion claimed the lives of four people including Jeffery and Joann Kocanyar, as well as Julie and Adam Lubic.

A report from an off-duty Damascus firefighter who responded to the scene said a fire at the scene was being led by a gas source believed to be propane.

The firefighter said he heard the explosion around 7:15 a.m. and it "shook [his] windows and entire home." He initially thought a gas well exploded, but soon heard a call on his radio for several departments to respond to the Huxley Road home for a structure fire.

Once he got to the scene, he found out this was not a structure fire, but a home explosion.

"I could visibly see debris falling from above as I arrived at the location," the firefighter said in his report.

The firefighter found a woman standing on top of a downed power line near the scene with her two dogs. The firefighter told the woman to back away and she replied that two people lived in the house and were home at the time.

The firefighter then began searching through the debris and found a female victim first followed by one of the male victims. The firefighter noted that the male's skin was too hot to touch with bare hands.

The firefighter said the fire was able to be extinguished after a neighbor shut the valve on a tank behind the garage.

Another incident report from the Canfield Fire Department mentions a neighbor telling firefighters that the Kocanyars used propane to heat their home.

One neighbor filled out a witness statement saying that workers were seen at the home placing insulation and siding on the garage and the back of the house the day before the explosion happened.

A witness statement from the neighbor reveals Joann told her Jeffery went to a parts store with a contractor because the workers "were banging on the house so hard that they broke a water line" and that the basement was flooding.

Another neighbor told investigators there was "a lot of hammering going on" the day before the explosion.

One witness said she was eating breakfast on the morning of the explosion when the impact of the blast blew her out of her chair and shattered all the windows in her home.

Investigators also interviewed a worker, who said he left his equipment at the house. He added that the water line had already been broken and had since been fixed with a PVC pipe.

You can read much more about the explosion and the damage it caused to surrounding properties in our related coverage below.

RELATED COVERAGE: