PLUM BOROUGH, Pa. — Officials say the explosion at a Pennsylvania home last weekend that killed six people and damaged multiple homes was likely an accident.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala told WPXI that he toured the damaged homes and spoke with the fire marshal.
“I wanted to talk to the fire marshal, Donnie Brucker, he’s one of the top fire marshals in the country and Donnie says he thinks it’s an accident,” Zappala told the new outlet.
The Allegheny County District Attorney’s office posted photos on Facebook Thursday.
The district attorney’s office will be assisting the Plum Police Department with the investigation, Zappala said.
Since 2008, according to WPXI, there have been three explosions in Plum. Peoples Natural Gas has not found any connection between them, the outlet reported.
Zappala said that investigators are concentrating on the hot water heater that was in the basement where the explosion originated, the news outlet reported. He also said that he plans to have experts assist the fire marshal with evaluating the explosion.
“The fire marshal is saying it was a gas explosion, the gas exploded. That’s a lot of gas and a pretty major explosion so we’re going to bring in some explosives people to understand it better,” said Zappala, according to WPXI. He also plans to meet with Peoples Natural Gas about a future action plan including access for first responders to be able to shut off values immediately after a leak or explosion occurs.
“I think the police should be...they should have the ability if something like that happens, you could turn the gas off to the rest of that plan,” said Zappala, according to the news outlet.
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