Couple hurt in Larimore house blast still hospitalized

The investigation into the propane explosion that blew up a rural home northwest of Larimore, N.D., is nearly complete, except for more interviews with the man and woman still hospitalized in St.Paul.

Steve Hamre, investigator with the Grand Forks County Sheriff’s Department, said Jerry McCarty, the deputy state fire marshal leading the investigation, is waiting until Danielle Bissell and Justin McMahon heal more before wrapping up the case. Insurance investigators also likely will continue looking into the blast for some time, Hamre said.

Bissell, 22, is in serious condition in Regions Hospital in St. Paul, according to a nursing supervisor; McMahon is in fair condition in the same hospital.

Bissell’s infant daughter, Samantha, was killed in the June 27 explosion, which was heard as a sonic boom as far as 14 miles away.

Propane gas, which leaked because of a failure in a basement appliance after the outside propane tank was filled that day, ignited when the electric water pump in the basement switched on, McCarty’s investigation found last week.

Samantha Bissell, 6 months, was found deceased at the scene some distance from the house.

Bissell and McMahon, were seriously injured and transported to Altru Hospital in Grand Forks, then transferred to hospitals in the Twin Cities. They have both been in Regions Hospital for several days.

The house was completely demolished by the blast, with wreckage spreading out 40 yards from the foundation. McMahon and Bissell had rented the house for nearly a year.

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