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Photos: Castle Rock woman, 4 adopted kids escape explosion that leveled home

Posted on: 12:37 pm, October 12, 2012, by Will C. Holden, updated on: 12:51pm, October 12, 2012

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An up-close view of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
An up-close view of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
An up-close view of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
An up-close view of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
An up-close view of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
An up-close view of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
An up-close view of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
Clean up crews work at the scene of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
Lisa Martinez poses with one of her four adopted children. Martinez and all four of her adopted children escaped their house before it exploded. (Facebook)
Some of the rubble being swept away from a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
The view from a neighbor's backyard of a house that collapsed due to a gas leak explosion on Oct. 12, 2012.
An aerial shot of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
An aerial shot of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
An aerial shot of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
An aerial shot of a house that collapsed after a gas leak explosion in Castle Rock on Oct. 12, 2012.
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CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — A house at 6942 Sulfur Lane in the Sapphire Pointe neighborhood was completely leveled at approximately due to a natural gas explosion Friday morning.

Residents five miles away in Castle Rock reported being able to feel the blast, and residents 11 miles away in Parker reported being able to hear it. Amazingly, one woman and four children sustained non-life-threatening injuries as they escaped the explosion, which also damaged two other homes.

According to the Denver Police Department, the home belonged to Lt. Jimmy Martinez. The five individuals at the house at the time of the explosion were his wife Lisa, and the couple’s four adopted children, Chuna, 6, Elen, 4, Oz, 11, and Ahbie, 7. All four are from Ethiopia.

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