Toledo grandmother recovering after being pulled from burning house seconds before explosion
Jul 10, 2026, 4:41 PM | Updated: 5:44 pm
The aftermath of the oxygen tanks explosion. (Photo courtesy of GoFundMe via KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of GoFundMe via KIRO 7)
A Toledo grandmother is lucky to be alive after neighbors pulled her from her burning home, moments before oxygen tanks exploded where she was standing.
The fire on Monday completely consumed the home, leaving the family with almost nothing behind.
“Numb, devastated, emotional,” Leah Velazquez, who lived in the home with her mother Rose, said. “It’s hard to put in words.”
Velazquez wasn’t home at the time of the fire, but she received a call from her next-door neighbors, who were outside when they saw the flames.
“We heard a very loud concussive boom, like an explosion boom, and then I saw flames out the back of the house,” Stefany Fladeland, who lives next door, said.
Fladeland and her husband called 911 and alerted Velazquez, who told them her mother was inside.
The smoke was thick, and Fladeland said debris was flying in the air from the explosions.
“My husband ran around the other side of the house,” Fladeland said. “[Rose] couldn’t move. She was just on the porch, and by the time he got there, the flames were like licking out the front door.”
He grabbed Rose just in time. Less than a minute later, Fladeland said several oxygen tanks on the porch exploded.
Fladeland and her husband weren’t even supposed to be home at the time of the fire.
“We were supposed to be at soccer, and we just decided, yeah, we don’t really want to go tonight,” she said. “Had we not decided to not go? I don’t know what would have happened.”
“She would have passed,” Velazquez said. “She wouldn’t have made it. Some of our pets didn’t make it.”
Velazquez told KIRO 7 they aren’t sure how the fire started, but they believe it was related to Rose’s oxygen concentrator. Her nasal cannula had blown up in her face.
“Just seeing her come down with her burns … it was awful,” she said. “It was horrific.”
Rose is in the hospital recovering. Velazquez said she’s in a lot of pain from the burns and cannot walk or eat.
Relatives have started a GoFundMe to help the family get back on their feet.
“I’m hoping the devastation is to let people know life does go on,” Velazquez said. “Be thankful for help. Accept help. Because I’m having a really hard time with it. And it’s okay. It’s okay to accept help from people you don’t know.”
