A man injured in an explosion and fire in the small town of Dixon, 20 miles northwest of the Quad Cities, has died. Jim Van Vorn lives nearby and rushed to help. He says the man in the house was dazed, and had his clothes blown off. He and another man dragged the victim away, knowing there was a big propane tank behind the house that could have exploded, and he says they couldn’t have gotten in much later, because right after that the house “went up like a torch.” The man was taken to University Hospitals, where he later died. Amy Flynn is the local historian in Dixon. Flynn says the last serious fire the town had was back in 1963, when the Dixon Hotel burned. Flynn lives across the street from the home where the fatal fire broke out last (Monday) night and was the one who called 9-1-1. She says the 2-story house was completely leveled with about half an hour. Last week the small town was in the news after a high-speed chase ended with a stolen truck crashing into a creekbed near the spot where the fatal house fire broke out last night. Flynn says “For a town of 250 people, we’ve had our share of action this year.” The victim of last night’s fire has been identified as 62-year-old Kenneth Jones.
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