The body pulled from the rubble of the Lake Zurich house explosion has been positively identified as the 77-year-old man that lived at the house for decades, who neighbors describe as friendly and nice.
The adult male body recovered on Wednesday has been identified as the homeowner and occupant of the house, 77-year-old Timothy Toczylowski, Lake County Chief Deputy Coroner Steve Newton announced Friday evening.
Identification was completed by the Lake County Coroner’s forensic odontologist, who conducted a dental examination and compared it with the deceased’s dental records.
An autopsy showed that Toczylowski had injuries consistent with inhalation of products of combustion. Toxicology results, including carbon monoxide testing, are pending.
Toczylowski had been the sole owner of the house, located at 23525 North Overhill Drive in unincorporated Lake Zurich, since 1999, tax records show.
Ulises Hernandez, who moved into the neighborhood four years ago and lives two houses down from Toczylowski’s, told Lake & McHenry County Scanner that the man was a “friendly person” known by his neighbors as a long-time resident.
“We only knew him through passing, waving hi and bye, and exchanging mail because sometimes they were delivered to the wrong address. But other than that, that’s all we knew, but he was a very nice person,” Hernandez said.
Neighbors paid their respects to Toczylowski by placing flowers against the fencing surrounding the now-leveled home.
“He was a good man,” one child was heard saying after placing a flower down.
Hernandez’s outdoor home surveillance camera captured the moment the house exploded and caught on fire.
“I was inside when I heard a loud bang, and it rocked the house,” he told Lake & McHenry County Scanner.
Hernandez immediately started looking for his kids, who were playing basketball in the driveway when the explosion occurred.
“As soon as I rushed over to the front, that’s when I heard people screaming and I looked over and the house was caught on fire,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez is seen on the video footage calling 911.
He said his children were not injured, but debris landed on the roof of his home.
“It was a definite explosion because the whole house shook,” Hernandez said.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Lake Zurich Fire Department were called to the home in the Forest Lake subdivision at 8:28 p.m. Tuesday.
Emergency responders arrived and found the single-story home heavily engulfed in flames, Lake Zurich Fire Chief David Pilgard said at the scene.
The fire chief said the explosion leveled the house and damaged two neighboring homes to the north and south.
At the time, firefighters could not locate the occupants of the house that exploded.
Firefighters immediately began to check on the neighbors to ensure everyone was safe and accounted for, which they were.
“The main concerns this evening were accounting for the residents of the house where the incident actually occurred,” Pilgard said.
“Our next priority was two things: the neighboring houses to make sure that those residents were accounted for, ensuring they did not start on fire this evening, along with establishing a water supply to extinguish the fire,” Pilgard added.
The Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) was immediately activated to bring in additional manpower and water tenders due to a lack of hydrants in the neighborhood.
The incident was eventually upgraded to the third alarm level.
A total of 14 water trucks, 16 engines, 3 ladder trucks, 5 squads, 5 ambulances, 14 chiefs, and a rehabilitation canteen truck responded to the incident, Pilgard said.
Neighboring homes suffered damage due to the initial explosion and some damage from the accompanying fire.
Nicor was requested to dig up a natural gas line to the house after a gas meter was damaged in the explosion and free-flowing natural gas saturated the area, Pilgard said.
Firefighters eventually fully extinguished the fire at 11:49 p.m. that evening.
The Lake Zurich Fire Department received assistance from fire districts and departments including the Antioch Fire Protection District, Barrington, Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District, Buffalo Grove, Carpentersville, Cary Fire Protection District, Countryside Fire Protection District, Crystal Lake, Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Protection District, Des Plaines, Fox Lake Fire Protection District, Fox River Grove, Grayslake, Greater Round Lake Fire Protection District, Gurnee, Highland Park, Hoffman Estates, Inverness Fire Protection District, Lake Forest, Lake Villa, Libertyville, Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District, Long Grove Fire Protection District, McHenry Fire Protection District, Mount Prospect, Mundelein, Newport Township Fire Protection District, Northbrook, Nunda, Palatine, Prospect Heights, Richmond, Rolling Meadows, Round Lake, Schaumburg, Spring Grove, Streamwood, Wauconda Fire Protection District, Wheeling and Waukegan.
Pilgard said the fire is “not necessarily suspicious, but definitely warrants investigation to determine the cause of the explosion.”
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, Lake Zurich Fire Department and Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal.
It could take months before investigators determine the cause.