BATH

The State Fire Marshal’s Office said a leak in a propane line caused Tuesday’s explosion that killed a woman and leveled a house in Bath.

Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland said in a news release today that the leaking gas line connected an outside propane tank to two gas heaters that provided heat to two separate apartments.

Fire investigators, aided by inspectors from Maine’s Fuel Board, said the leak was in an outside wall of the house, and that fumes likely seeped into a crawl space under the dwelling and then ignited by an unknown source.

The leak was in the wall of the apartment of Kenneth Hooper, who had left for work about a half hour before the explosion.

A body was found in the rubble of the other apartment and the State Medical Examiner’s Office continues work to establish her positive identification and the cause of death. The property manager identified her today as Dale Fussell.

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