River Oaks house explodes (maybe), burns

Like most red-blooded American teenagers men, Houstonist has a bit of a fascination with explosions. That doesn't mean we're going to go out and cause one, mind you, but we're often interested by them.

And now that we've made you think we're pyromaniacs, here's some news: A house in River Oaks exploded and burned this morning; fortunately, neither of the occupants was killed. Firefighters arrived at the house at South Shepherd and Chilton shortly after 5 a.m., when neighbors reported haring a loud explosion that shook their houses. KHOU reports:

A neighbor first thought his home was on fire.

"It just felt like a car hit the house, it shook our house," Michael Olson said. "I believe it was an explosion; I'm not sure what caused the explosion, but [there was] something very loud and a boom."

HFD Capt. Omero Longoria told Channel 11 that what sounded like an explosion might actually have been a window blowing out of the house, which often happens in structure fires. Both women in the house when the fire broke out were injured, one from smoke inhalation and the other from cuts she received breaking a window.

Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire, which KTRK reports is believed to have started in the kitchen.