YELM, Wash. — Brenda Donovan heard an explosion and looked out the window of her Yelm home to see a burning van heading straight for her house.
"I'm lucky I didn't have a heart attack," said Donovan.
The van hit a stump and stopped just feet away from Donovan's house and flames and heat melted her home's siding. A man and the woman inside the van were critically injured an airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in critical condition.
Thurston County detectives told KIRO 7 a 55-gallon drum filled with gasoline exploded. Detectives said the drum was inside the van as part of a homemade modification to improve gas mileage.
"He had done something to utilize gas vapors to actually fuel the van," said Sgt. Ray Brady.
KIRO 7 South Sound reporter Richard Thompson checked the Internet and quickly found a number of do-it-yourself videos showing people how to modify engines using plastic bottles and other household materials.
Thompson then asked Service Manager Mike Bressi at Nisqually Automotive if those modifications are dangerous and essentially turning cars into bombs.
"Absolutely, because you take a small amount of gas and you mix it with the right amount of oxygen and it could be a huge explosion," said Bressi.
Police say that's what happened Tuesday when the van exploded. Bressi said it could have just as easily exploded on the freeway.
"It could have hurt innocent people going down the road," he said.
More photos of the van here.
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