Door County Advocate: Two killed in Ellison Bay blast

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Two people were killed in an early morning explosion today at the Cedar Grove Resort in Ellison Bay, Fire Chief Chris Hecht said this afternoon.

The blast at 2:30 a.m. injured seven people and left a two-block area of damage.

It is unclear what caused the explosion, but rising levels of propane gas in the blast area are making the situation dangerous for investigators, said Hecht, fire chief of the Sister Bay/Liberty Grove Fire Department.

A private contractor working for Wisconsin Public Service Corp., installing an underground electrical line, may have accidentally struck a buried privately owned propane pipeline, said Larry Borgard, president and chief operating officer for WPS Energy Delivery.

Borgard said a WPS team arrived at the scene around 3 a.m. and shut off all electrical power to the immediate area.

“Our immediate concerns are for the victims and the first responders who are at the scene,” Borgard said.

The historical Old Pioneer Store was leveled, two cottages at the Cedar Grove Resort were damaged and one was burned.

Seven people were injured. Five of them sought medical assistance on their own, and two were transferred to a Green Bay hospital, he said. Authorities were searching for two missing people.

The living quarters above the Old Pioneer Store collapsed onto the store below. Propane or fuel may have ignited.

The store was built in 1900 by Charles Ruckert and Hans Hanson and has served the hamlet as a general store ever since. Ruckert’s family sold the store in 1968 to Carol Newman, who also owned grocery stores in Baileys Harbor and Fish Creek. Merchandise from the destroyed store is now strewn across the highway.

Jim Quan, a relative of Jeanee and Brian Linden, who own the Asian art gallery across the highway, said he was awakened by a whistling sound and then two booms, like a bomb going off. A duplex at Cedar Grove where the fire was suspected of starting remained smoldering at 10 a.m., when the latest briefing was held.

Judy Thoreson, who operates Gills Rock Stoneware down the road with her husband, Larry, said she heard two big explosions.

"We just bolted out of bed. It was horrible. I just hope everybody's OK," she said.

The Door County Sheriff’s department says State 42 through Ellison Bay was closed to traffic because of the incident.