KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Authorities say two people in a truck have died after it crashed into a home in Knox County.
Knoxville Fire Department Capt. D. J. Corcoran told The Knoxville News Sentinel that the crash early Wednesday apparently ruptured the gas tank on the truck, setting both it and the home ablaze.
Homeowner Dennis Hoffman said the impact happened in an empty bedroom on the other side of the home, but it awakened him and his wife.
"It shook the bed and woke us up," Hoffman said. "The whole house shook. We knew there had been a wreck."
Neither was injured, and they quickly got out of the house.
"My wife was the first one through, saw the debris in the floor and smoke coming in," Hoffman said. "By the time I came through it was smoking pretty bad. We got out and she called 911."
The said the damage to the truck was severe.
"The bed was knocked off sideways ... it was mashed. The motor was kicked back, and the frame bent when they got it on the rollback."
Hoffman said the house sits along a curve on the roadway.
"We've had wrecks right in front of our house off and on," Hoffman said. "We were worried it (a vehicle striking their house) would happen one day, and it did."
Officials haven't released the names of those who died.