Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

The Michigan State Police Fire Investigation unit is probing the cause of an explosion that levelled a Whitmore Lake home and resulted in the deaths of four family members. According to Northfield Twp. Fire Chief Chris Bishop, two others are in “critical but stable" condition at the University of Michigan Hospital.

The explosion occurred Saturday afternoon at a home in the 8200 block of Winters Lane, a private, dead-end road off Main Street, near Six Mile Road. Bishop tells WHMI that when Northfield Twp. firefighters arrived at the scene they found, in his words, “a structure that was no longer there.”

The fire chief said that bodies were found "within 100 feet of the house and the debris was spread over 2-4 acres.” Neighbors reported seeing falling debris in the air afterward, some even strewn along both sides of the nearby US-23 freeway. However, no other homes were damaged by the explosion. According to Northfield Twp. Police Lt. Dave Powell, Washtenaw County Sheriff’s deputies heard the explosion nine miles away.

All six people who were in the house at the time were members of one family, among them a grandfather. The three injured victims were transported by Huron Valley Ambulance to the Ann Arbor hospital for treatment of "burns and blunt force trauma.” Bishop says one of the family members died at the hospital, resulting in four fatalities.

Bishop tells WHMI that, among the working theories as to a cause, the most prominent one is an explosion from the propane gas that served the house. However, a specific cause of the blast is undetermined at this time.

A neighbor who lives on nearby Horseshoe Lake said the explosion knocked him to the ground, after which he saw a huge wave coming across the lake - apparently as a result of the concussion created by the blast.

Firefighting units from the Northfield, Green Oak and Hamburg Twp. Fire departments, assisted by several other departments, were at the scene, most remaining until about 6 pm. However, Northfield Twp. personnel remained overnight to secure the scene. The private road is currently closed off to the public and accessible only to family members of residences and their guests.

Social media in Northfield Twp. have listed the victims in the blast, but Bishop says officials are not identifying them at this time, pending notification of extended family members.