This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Updated: 1:27 PM- As neighbors returned to their fire-damaged homes Tuesday, police suggested the Salt Lake City man accused of causing the explosion and blaze was trying to set himself on fire.

The suspect, Bruce M. Gann, 33, told a police officer he set the fire Monday night at his home on 653 E. Wilmington Ave., according to paperwork police filed with the Salt Lake County jail.

Gann "indicated he poured gas on himself to start the fire," the police statement goes on to say.

The statement does not elaborate and investigators had not discussed the possible motives as of Tuesday afternoon. Gann is being held in the jail without bail on suspicion of aggravated arson

At 8:30 a.m., glass still littered the street and the smell of smoke hung in the air outside the home where Gann lived and the explosion and subsequent fire occurred.

The event leveled his home about 10 p.m. Monday and severely damaged two homes to the immediate east and west. Brick and rubble was all that was left of Gann's home Tuesday.

Fire Department spokesman Dennis McKone estimated the damage to all three houses at $500,000. Gann was hospitalized over night for minor burns to his face before being jailed. Nobody else was injured.

"You have bad days when things aren't going so well but this is kind of a really bad day," neighbor Mary Kelsey said Tuesday morning as she foraged through the burnt insulation and furniture of her home. "This is a big deal."

Kelsey removed various items and grabbed extra clothes for her 11-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son.

"We left last night in a big hurry," she said. "The kids had no shoes on."

Kelsey said she didn't know Gann well but described him as a nice person. She said she had no hard feelings toward him and was shocked to hear police had arrested him.

Scott King and his girlfriend Patty Bryant, who lived next door at 641 E. Wilmington Ave., stayed in their bedroom Monday night, one of the only rooms left in their four bedroom home that wasn't damaged.

"I haven't slept yet," said Bryant. "He got a little tiny bit."

The couple inspected the burnt-out windows on the east side of their residence Tuesday. Soot and insulation littered their front room, kitchen and laundry room. The fire also had burned several holes in their roof.

Both said they were friendly with Gann, but didn't know the man and his estranged wife who lived next door for about 18 months.

"He was quiet and really friendly," Bryant said of Gann. "We got along really good with him."

Bryant and her 13-year-old son Terry were just settling down to watch television after running some errands Monday night when Gann's house exploded.

"We heard it," Bryant said. "It just shook the whole house. It rumbled."

King and the Bryants called 911 and ran outside. King said he grabbed a garden hose but then realized "it was a lost cause," he said.

An insurance adjuster arrived at King's home at 9 a.m. to look at the damage.

"This is a heck of a way to remodel a house," King joked.

The couple planned to stay at a hotel Tuesday night.

jbergreen@sltrib.com" Target="_BLANK">jbergreen@sltrib.com

ncarlisle@sltrib.com" Target="_BLANK">ncarlisle@sltrib.com