Dennis Radowski examined shards of glass embedded into a wall inside a house Tuesday as church members and neighbors scoped out the damage around a Hammond church after an explosion the evening before.

A church deacon smelled gas as he was setting up for a meeting Monday evening at Bethel Congregational Church of God In Christ, said Hammond Fire Chief Jeff Smith, and as he was looking for the source, he heard a “Boom-pop!” before being thrown back, Smith said.

Smith did not have a name or update on the condition of the deacon Tuesday afternoon, but he seemed “all right” aside from burns to his hands and on his clothing Monday night. Lester Stokes, a church administrator, said he was planning to visit the man at a University of Chicago Hospital later that day to check on him.

Stokes, who has attended the church for 18 years, saw the initial aftermath of the explosion at the annex adjacent to the main structure of the church Monday night, but he joined other members Tuesday as they waited for insurance adjusters to look over the damage. It could take some time to figure out how to move forward, he said.

“We don't really know where to start,” Stokes said. “We just have to go day by day now because it's devastating.”

Radowski was getting home from work Monday night when he got a call from an alarm company about a house he helped rehab next to the church's annex. When Radowski went to see what was going on, he said he drove up to see firefighters blocking off the area.

“Two windows were blown out in the living room, and the force was enough where there were little pieces of glass and larger pieces of glass that were actually embedded on the opposite side into the wall,” Radowski said about the house.

Radowski and the Hammond Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which fixes vacant houses for people, recently finished work on the house, which is about 8 feet across an alley from the church annex in the 800 block of Wilcox Street.

Radowski was ready to sign the papers with a woman Tuesday to have her moved in by Christmas, he said, and while that will be delayed given what happened Monday, Radowski said his team will fix it and have it ready again.

“You know what? It's all covered by insurance. I'm not worried. I'm just glad no one was in the place when it happened,” Radowski said.

The annex, on the other hand, is a total loss, Smith said Monday night, but the church itself was intact. A collapsing roof made it more difficult for firefighters to put out a fire that occurred after the explosion, he said.

The fire department believes the explosion was caused by a gas leak, Smith said.

rejacobs@post-trib.com

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