GREAT BEND (AP) - The former Great Bend fire chief was helped to safety by his son after his garage exploded and set his house on fire.

Firefighters believe a malfunctioning propane heater caused Don Leinen's garage to explode and set the house on fire early Sunday morning.

Leinen, 76, said he heard the explosion around 3 a.m. So did his son, Jeff, 52, who lives across the street.

Jeff Leinen helped build his father's house in 1979. He said it was "just instinct to go and find him" after he heard the explosion and saw the fire.

He found his father in the bedroom and told him they had to get out.

Fire officials say the house is a total loss.

When they heard the 3 a.m. blast, Jeff Leinen first thought it was his corn dryer that blew. Then his wife, Maxine, saw through the window that Don's house was ablaze.

As Maxine tried to call 911, unable to get a dial tone because the explosion knocked the phone off the hook, Jeff ran across the street. He first tried to get in by crawling through a basement window, blown out by the explosion like the rest of the house's windows. But there was too much debris to make it upstairs. He got back out and went around to the patio window of the bi-level home, rushing down the hallway to his father's bedroom.

"He was kind of confused," Jeff said. "He didn't really know what to do. I told him, 'We've got to get out of here.' He said, 'I've got to get some clothes.'"

Don, who had been the town's fire chief for more than two decades, put on a T-shirt and some sweatpants. As they were leaving, he wanted to grab his wallet. His son said they didn't have time, but Don pulled his arm away to get his billfold.

"He's stubborn as can be," Jeff Leinen said.

The fire was already coming up the stairs to the house's top level as they scurried out the patio window by walking over broken glass. Both escaped without injury.

The explosion also woke up Pat Porter, Great Bend's fire chief. Porter, who lives four blocks away from the Leinens, knew that Don would need to get out fast.

"That's all I could think of as I was throwing my pants on, 'Please let him be out of the house,'" Porter said.

By the time Porter was driving to the scene, he could already see the tall flames. "Oh, I would go 60 feet in the air," he said. "That would be minutes after the explosion."

It took about 90 minutes to knock down the fire with help from fire departments from Hankinson, Dwight, Mantador and Fairmount.

Porter said the initial investigation points to a malfunctioning propane heater that may have been ignited by the pilot light on a stove in the garage. The fire chief said gas from the garage explosion likely fueled the house fire.

Don's wife, Margaret, who died last year, used the stove for canning, Jeff Leinen said. Many of Margaret's personal effects were still in the home, waiting to be sorted through after her death.

"He was still going through the grieving process of that," Leinen said of his dad. "It was tough to see that part of it."

Don is staying with another of his sons, Don Leinen, Jr., one of his eight children most who still live in the region, Jeff Leinen said.