Linn County, Iowa – Late Monday afternoon a tractor-trailer left a farmhouse of County Home Road in Linn County, Iowa in shambles after it crashed into the home. The semi struck a propane tank and punctured it setting off a blaze, authorities said. Witnesses at the scene told KCRG-TV9 that they are lucky to be alive. The owner of the property Rodney Peyton says he was in the yard working on a piece of equipment when he heard the explosion. He said just five minutes earlier he was standing in the exact area working on an air conditioner unit the truck crashed into. “It’s pretty unbelievable. You’re trying to comprehend what is happening. But the LP tank blew and there was a lot of fire,” Peyton told KCRG.

Peyton says the renter of the home, Michelle Burke, was inside the home at the time of the crash. He immediately ran to see if she was injured. Thankfully, she was not, but it was a close call says Peyton. “A few minutes before that she had been in that part of the house and she moved to the south end. Very fortunate that took place,” he said.

Burke says she made her way out of the other end of the home and went to check on the truck driver, James Ward. She says Ward told her he “blacked out” and didn’t remember what happened.

Interestingly, Payton says this isn’t the first time the farmhouse was hit by a vehicle running off County Home Road. He said an earlier owner of the farm told him it also happened years ago when a drunk driver crashed into the house in almost the exact same spot.

Photos courtesy of KCRG-TV9. For more on this story visit KCRG-TV9.

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