A Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission ruling that an April 2022 home explosion in Plum was not caused by public utility equipment does not eliminate the possibility that natural gas caused the explosion.
In a statement released this week, the PUC’s safety division found no evidence that public utility natural gas equipment caused the explosion and fire last year that destroyed a home at 5021 Hialeah Drive, in the Holiday Park section of Plum.
The investigation also found no indication of natural gas migrating through the soil around the property, the statement said.
But the finding does not rule out natural gas as the cause of the explosion, saying only that natural gas components outside the home were not to blame.
Under state regulations, the PUC does not have jurisdiction to investigate any causes from inside a home, meaning the agency cannot rule out that a gas leak inside the home, such as a leaking gas appliance, caused the explosion.
The April 23, 2022, explosion injured five, destroyed one home and damaged neighboring houses.
The PUC said that during its investigation of the Hialeah Drive explosion, crews tested Peoples natural gas service lines, meters and regulators, along with testing odor levels in the distribution system. Investigators also monitored leak survey “bar holes” while looking for gas indications in and around 5021 Hialeah Drive and above underground gas facilities.
Peoples also was directed to continue leak surveys for several days after the explosion, along with safety checks in the area, the statement said. Investigators also observed work by the gas company to safely restore service to affected customers.
PUC engineers oversaw evidence collection around the site, reviewed gas consumption records for the property and operator records and maps of public utility facilities in the area.
The statement said any further review of the incident involving the inside of the home isn’t in the PUC’s jurisdiction. Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, PUC spokesman, said PUC investigations are limited, by regulation, to the involvement of, or impact from, utilities and utility systems under its jurisdiction, along with natural gas transported by those assets.
The PUC does not have jurisdiction to investigate items, events or piping beyond a service meter’s outlet within a structure, Hagen-Frederiksen said.
On Aug. 12, a home exploded in the borough’s Rustic Ridge neighborhood, killing six people and damaging about a dozen homes. The cause of that explosion is being investigated. Officials have said it could take months or even years before a cause is determined.
In 2008, a home at 171 Mardi Gras Drive exploded. In that incident, two other homes were destroyed and 11 were damaged. One person died and another was injured. An investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board found that sewer pipe work done five years before damaged a gas pipeline.
In the mid-1990s, there were explosions at two other homes in Plum within a year or so of each other, one due to a suicide attempt and the other to a gas leak.
