(TAUNTON, Mass.) -- A woman in Massachusetts escaped her home moments before it exploded and burst into flames Sunday, police said. 
 
 Police identified 52-year-old Laurie Beliveau, of Taunton, as the sole resident of the two-story, single-family home. 
 
 Beliveau was attempting to repair her gas-fueled hot water heater and removed the gas shut-off valve, State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan and Taunton Fire Chief Timothy J. Bradshaw said in a statement Monday. This misstep caused gas to pour into the basement where it was ignited by an unknown ignition source. 
 
 Several unnamed bystanders called the Taunton Fire Department at about 3:53 p.m. One woman reported she "felt the ground shake" while another saw smoke billowing from the rooftop, according to recordings of the 911 calls obtained by ABC News. 
 
 Beliveau's neighbor Paul Saltalamacchia said Beliveau ran two doors down to his home screaming for help. 
 
 "We, my son and I, got her a pair of sandals and a glass of water and within about five minutes the house was in flames and the windows exploded," Saltalamacchia told ABC News Monday. 
 
 Saltalamacchia said Beliveau told him she was upstairs in her bedroom when the closet doors blew off and that she had "done something to the furnace" before the explosion. 
 
 "She was hysterically talking to the fire department about a gas fire place," Saltalamacchia said, noting that she also lamented that her pet cockatoo was still inside. 
 
 Lt. Kevin C. Farrar, communications officer for the Taunton Fire Department, said the "homeowner may have attempted her own repair on the [natural gas] water heater." 
 
 Farrar said the incident was a graphic reminder to homeowners not to attempt repairs unless by a qualified person. 
 
 Saltalamacchia said Beliveau is divorced with two adult children. He said another neighbor called Beliveau's ex-husband but did not hear back from him. 
 
 There is an ongoing investigation, but Taunton Deputy Fire Chief Scott Dexter said the department suspects a gas leak caused the blast that leveled the home. 
 
 "Everything caved in. It's just a pile of lumber. Nothing is salvageable," Dexter told ABC News. 
 
 Investigators from the fire marshal's office, state police department, Office of Public Utilities and the Columbia Gas of Massachusetts were at the scene this morning, Dexter said. 
 
 Don DiNunno, communications and community relations manager for Columbia Gas, said an explosion of this magnitude in a suburban neighborhood is rare. 
 
 "It does happen but thankfully very, very infrequently. But one's more than enough. Thankfully, the lone occupant was able to get out," he told ABC News. 
 
 DiNunno said all the utilities at Beliveau's house have been turned off. Columbia Gas advises residents to leave their homes immediately and avoid operating any utilities in the event of a leak. 
 
 The Northern Bristol County Registry of Deeds has an affidavit filed in August regarding a foreclosure of Beliveau's home, the Taunton Gazette reported. 
 
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– A Massachusetts woman apparently botched some home repairs yesterday and blew her house to smithereens, WBT reports. Lucky for Laurie Beliveau, 52, she fled her property in Taunton, Mass., minutes before the explosion. "We, my son and I, got her a pair of sandals and a glass of water and within about five minutes the house was in flames and the windows exploded," says Paul Saltalamacchia, a neighbor who saw her crying for help. Seems that Beliveau was trying to fix her hot water heater—which was gas-fueled—when she took off the gas shut-off valve, according to fire officials. That allowed gas to leak into the basement and somehow get ignited. "Everything caved in," says Taunton Deputy Fire Chief Scott Dexter. "It's just a pile of lumber. Nothing is salvageable." According to Saltalmacchia and police, Beliveau was at home in her bedroom when an initial explosion rocked the house and blew off her closet door, the Taunton Gazette reports. "She was walking up the street screaming 'Help me, help me! My house exploded!'" Saltalmacchia says. Another neighbor says Beliveau was once married but lived alone for years, barely communicating with others and living in apparently unsanitary conditions with dogs and cats. A "rotting-vegetable-type odor" could be smelled out back even after the explosion, the Gazette reports. "She should not have been here by herself," says the neighbor. "It doesn’t make sense."