The house that exploded early Tuesday morning leaving three men in critical condition for burns was demolished Wednesday afternoon.

After 17 hours of evidence collection and several minor rekindles that caused the structure to smoke, the Lansing Fire Marshal made the determination: level the home.

"Our Marshal's Divsion was more worried about the safety to the community," said Fire Public Information Officer Charles Stadt. "So people couldn't get into the house, do anything else, hurt themselves inside of the structure. And the foundation not being sound, that made the determination pretty easy to tear the house down."

But there were already some complaints from neighbors about people entering the home.

"We didn't see any evidence of anything, but there was a report last night that someone had entered the building around one," Stadt said. "But nothing was disturbed."

Utility crews were on the scene by noon Wednesday to shut off the gas and water. It took approximately 22 minutes for the house to be demolished this afternoon. Officials say it was routine, but neighbors feel it's bittersweet.

"I'm sad to see it come down, I know it needs to come down, but I'm ready for the process to be over with for sure," said Molly Lagrou, who lives next door.

She said the house saw much more activity in the last week than ever before. She noticed cars she had never seen parked in the driveway they share.

"I heard people coming and going late at night," Lagrou said. "I thought he had some out of town visitors, that's the most I thought of it."

She said she grew more suspicious and wouldn't be surprised if they were involved in drug activities.

Officials say the investigation is about half way through. Now it's just a waiting game while the chemicals from the scene are examined at the state lab.

"They've collected everything they need to at this time, now it's just a matter of going through what they collected," Stadt said.

According to the last report, the three men are still in critical condition in the burn unit at the University of Michigan. Stadt said the first 48 hours are the most critical.

"I'm mostly just sad that all that got ruined, and sad to see that people got hurt in the process," Lagrou said.

Lagrou said the homeowner now lives in Colorado. She's expected to be back Friday to check out the property.