Officials say it was an explosion that was off the charts.

The explosion was heard for miles around the mega-shredder at Sturgis Iron and Metal Tuesday morning in Elkhart.

That's where they're still trying to figure out what caused the blast.

Officials confirm there was a major explosion at the mega shredder around 7:00 am Tuesday, with no injuries, and really very little damage to the shredder - which is built to sustain explosions.

Elkhart police received dozens of calls from people wondering what exactly the loud noise was - and officials are still trying to figure that out.

Neighbors blocks away thought it was right outside their door.

“It was like boom, a sonic boom we thought a tree had fallen on our house; I had my husband run around our house,” said Peaches McCain, who lives a few blocks away from the shredder.

Fortunately, no one was hurt in the morning blast.

If I can hear 3 or 4 blocks away, I can think of the people who live right next door, I don't know what they were like this morning.

Ella Stout can speak to that.

The shredder is basically right behind her house.

”It was a noise so loud felt like our house was going to fall in. It was so loud I was sleeping and when I heard it I jumped up,” Stout said.

Engineers say smaller explosions are common with the shredder.

“A propane tank going through the shredder or residual gas that may be left over in the tank, all of those are very easily defined, and easily repeatable, but this is nothing like we've ever experienced before,” said Sturgis spokesman Kevin Young.

For those living in the neighborhood, things like this morning's events are frightening.

“You wonder if your house is going to get blown up or something or something will happen to the people in it,” Stout said.

And Sturgis has decided to involved police, because they're concerned too.

“Experienced operators that have been running shredders for over 20 years - all of them have said this is nothing like they've ever experienced. For our own sake, our employees’ sake, for the neighbors’ sake, we want to determine exactly what the cause is,” Young said.

Police plan to help Sturgis forensically examine the material that was involved with the explosion, to see if they can find any clues as to what caused it.

It may seem far-fetched, but officials say it’s possible the explosion could have been a bomb - because the explosion was unlike anything they've seen at the shredder, and much larger.

But it's much too early to know for sure.