Peoples Gas to begin restoring service to Plum after deadly house explosion

By Meghan Schiller

August 16, 2023 / 1:17 PM / CBS Pittsburgh

PLUM, Pa. (KDKA) -- Peoples Gas will begin restoring service to Plum after a house explosion killed six people on Saturday.

A spokesperson for Peoples Gas said crews completed additional system testing with the Allegheny County fire marshal and Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on Tuesday night. The company said gas service was shut off to about 50 homes after a house exploded in Plum's Rustic Ridge neighborhood.

Now technicians will go door to door to conduct a safety check and relight appliances. If residents aren't home, Peoples Gas said workers will leave a door hanger with customer service contact information and crews will be available on a 24/7 basis until service is fully restored.

Peoples Gas is reminding people that all its service employees wear a photo ID and residents should always ask to see ID before allowing a worker in their homes.

The cause of the explosion is under investigation, though Allegheny County officials said the investigation could take months or even years.

"Well, the first thing you're gonna try to do in a case like this is, you're gonna try to determine what the fuel was," said Meier Fire Investigation principal expert Richard Meier.

Meier isn't responding to this explosion, but he regularly responds to home explosions as a private fire investigator.

"But I generally get called a little after the fact after, sometimes by an insurance company, but I generally get called after the fact when the more or less the public sector has finished their job," he said.

And in those investigations, he's looking for certain items.

"They'll be looking for other potential fuels that could have become vaporized and caused an explosion -- paint thinners, gasoline, things of that nature," he explained.

He said the ignition source rarely matters as much as the cause of the leak. KDKA-TV asked him his thoughts on the Allegheny County fire marshal saying it's looking into reports of issues with the home's hot water heater.

"If you have a leak in the pipe leading up to that appliance, or a leak in the piping inside the appliance, then that gas can go in places where it's not supposed to go, mixing outside the appliance with air and until it gets to the point where it becomes an explosive mixture."

He said after seeing videos and pictures of this Plum explosion, it's one of the strongest he's seen.

"Looking at that video in this case, it looks like that's about where they were at, was in the middle of the range where you're gonna get the strongest explosion. And the devastation is similar to what I've seen in other cases," he said.

He couldn't say if this type of explosion could happen following a 10-minute leak or a four-day-long leak. He said it's less about time and more about the size of the leak. He recommends everyone buy a natural gas alarm.

If you ever smell a natural gas odor or suspect a leak, Peoples Gas said you should leave immediately and call their emergency number at 1-800-400-4271.

Meghan Schiller is an Emmy-nominated journalist who joined KDKA in October 2017. She's thrilled to be back in her hometown and reporting at the station she grew up watching.

First published on August 16, 2023 / 1:17 PM

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