Deadly blast at Sacramento home followed feud over property eviction
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Explosion at South Oak Park home killed one and damaged multiple structures.
- Neighbor said resident’s eviction dispute and code violations preceded fatal blast.
- Officials confirmed gas service inactive; investigation remains ongoing.
A powerful explosion destroyed a South Oak Park home early Thursday, killing one person and igniting fires in nearby homes in a blast that could be heard more than two miles away.
The explosion occurred at 6:15 a.m. at a house on the 3900 block of 39th Street, near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, according to the Sacramento Fire Department. When firefighters arrived, the home was fully engulfed in flames, with multiple other structures catching fire amid continuing explosions.
“At that point, there were multiple explosions that were being heard throughout the time of dispatch and once our units arrived,” said Sacramento Fire Department Capt. Justin Sylvia.
Fire crews prioritized protecting nearby homes. “We couldn’t save that house. We needed to save the others surrounding it,” Sylvia said.
One person was found dead inside the home. Authorities have not officially identified the victim, but a neighbor told The Sacramento Bee the man was Karl Lysinger, 63, the longtime resident who formerly owned the home.
An Aug. 12 city staff report said the owner of the property was Alpine Holdings Inc., which is based in Rocklin, according to state business records.
According to city code enforcement and county assessment records, the property had been the subject of repeated violations dating back to at least 2017. Earlier this month, the Sacramento City Council voted to attach unpaid enforcement fees to the property as a special tax assessment, but a city spokesperson confirmed the city did not play a role in the eviction, the reasons for which remain unclear. Property records show Alpine Holdings purchased the home in March.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office confirmed an eviction was scheduled for the property. An Aug. 12 city staff report said the owner of the property was Alpine Holdings Inc. It’s unclear when the property was transferred. Records show the city had assessed more than $50,000 in administrative penalties.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Thursday that it was in the process of executing an eviction on the property. The eviction notice was set for 6:01 a.m. Monday, Aug. 18. Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. Amar Gandhi said sheriff’s officials had not executed the eviction order and that no deputies were at the scene at the time of the explosion.
PG&E and fire officials confirmed that natural gas service to the house had been previously capped, and was not active at the time of the blast.
A friend and neighbor, Ed Williams, said Lysinger was distraught over the eviction and told him he intended to destroy the house in protest. Williams said he delivered a notice to Lysinger on Tuesday and had tried to talk him out of what he described as “Plan A.”
“I talked him down off of that,” Williams said. “He knew I was against it. I would have physically stopped him and called the police. He was my only friend.”
Williams said Lysinger instead focused on relocating items in the yard—motorcycles, equipment, tools—to comply with inspectors’ demands. The two spent days moving items around the property.
“He was a good guy just like you and I, and the city took his home without due process,” Williams said. “He shouldn’t have had this happen.”
The explosion occurred just a block north of Christian Brothers High School and was felt as far away as Land Park and East Sacramento. Eyewitness video captured by Duane Johnson showed flames and a series of explosions, with one blast sending embers and debris skyward.
One person in the video exclaimed, “The whole house shook.”
Fire officials said one neighboring home on 39th Street suffered severe structural damage after flames spread into the attic. Another property sustained damage after debris was blown into the backyard, and multiple homes in the area had windows blown out from the force of the blast.
Williams said the blast felt “like an earthquake,” and sent nails through the drywall in his home.
Despite the destruction, no other injuries were reported, according to fire officials.
Fire crews knocked down the fire at the initial structure and shifted their focus to saving nearby homes. Sylvia said the scene was quickly secured for safety and investigation.
As of Thursday afternoon, the body inside the home had not yet been removed. Investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on site to process the scene. City officials also remained on scene inspecting damage to neighboring homes.
“Right now, we’re investigating what happened,” Sylvia said. “We’re trying to get everyone out of this area and slow this scene down to make sure the fire’s out and do a full investigation.”
Williams said Lysinger had lived in the home and that the city had targeted it as a nuisance, believing it a magnet for drug or gang activity. Sacramento city records show Lysinger purchased the home for $25,000 in 2008.
“That’s what the city supposed was happening there — that’s why they started this with him — that there was drugs and violence there and he’s just a good neighbor in the neighborhood,” he said.
Williams described the inside of the man’s home as stockpiled with paperwork from the city.
“He had stacks and stacks — a whole floor,” Williams said. “There were city dudes who were just delegated to this property, that would just come by and fill his (mail) box with stuff. The city didn’t even know somebody lived there.”
After the explosion, paperwork from the dispute rained down on the house.
Blowing up the home was Lysinger’s “Plan A,” Williams said.
“I talked him down off of that. He realized that people aren’t going to be sympathetic toward an old white dude who blew himself up,” Williams told The Bee. “He knew I was against it. I would have physically stopped him and called the police. He was my only friend.”
The man formulated a second plan, to move his outdoor collection of motorcycles, equipment, cars and tools from one side of his yard to another, in an apparent attempt to appease city inspectors. Williams helped him move much of it in the days before Thursday’s explosion.
The last time Williams saw his friend and neighbor was just after 5 a.m. — about an hour before the explosion. Williams said he had asked to borrow tools.
Williams said the force of the blast felt “like an earthquake” and sent nails through drywall in his home.
A few doors down, Melaninisha Flowers said her children were in the shower getting ready for school when their home shook and everyday objects began to fall off counters.
“We just heard a big ol’ boom, and everybody came outside, and then you see a bunch of smoke everything flying in the air,” Flowers said. “Yeah, it was pretty scary.”
She said she wasn’t sure what caused the explosion, but the impact was immediate and frightening.
“I’m not sure what caused it, but I just know that when the whole house shook, I came outside,” she said. “There was smoke in the air, everything flying in the air from the house on fire, and everybody outside and windows — people’s windows — broke and everybody’s dogs were just running around scared,” she said.
The moment left her shaken.
“Me, personally, I don’t know if it sounds crazy, but I felt like something fell out of the sky and I thought we could be at war or something,” she said. “It was really scary.”
The Bee’s Daniel Hunt contributed to this story.
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 7:52 AM.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly suggested that the city of Sacramento played a role in evicting the resident of the home. While the property had been subject to code enforcement actions, including fines and assessments, the city was not involved in the eviction process. Additionally, statements made by a neighbor incorrectly implied that the city directly forced the resident out of the home.
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