. >> that dad was scott purk. you will be hearing a lot about him. aid his family had been sound asleep when he heard a loud boom. >> it was like we heard an explosion. >> oh, you did? >> yeah. and that's what woke us up. it's real cold at the moment. >> purk said he scrambled to get everybody up and out. by the time the first fire units rolled up, the purk home was a roaring bonfire. firefighters smelled gasoline as soon as they got out of their trucks. so a call immediately went out to stow police detective ken mifflin. >> when i got there, i saw the fire department still putting out the blaze. someone had taken probably a pipe wrench to disconnect the gas line. and it was blowing out natural gas. it was a very large roaring sound. >> at that point, the gas hadn't ignited? >> no. it could have possibly blown up. the person who said to the fire poured gasoline all the way to the gas meter and on top of the gas meter. >> the idea was fire starts, the gasoline goes to the gas main, and possibly destroys the house, and everybody in it? >> absolutely. >>