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NTSB documents offer insight but no cause for Silver Spring building explosion that killed 7 NTSB documents offer insight but no cause for Silver Spring building explosion that killed 7
(about 5 hours later)
Federal investigators said they found a disconnected vent pipe in the basement room where natural gas built up before a lethal explosion last year at a Silver Spring apartment complex.Federal investigators said they found a disconnected vent pipe in the basement room where natural gas built up before a lethal explosion last year at a Silver Spring apartment complex.
When and why the pipe was disconnected have not been determined, but the disconnect would have bypassed a safety feature meant to vent gas from the basement room of the building to the exterior, investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in a preliminary report on the Aug. 10, 2016 explosion that killed seven people and left more than 100 homeless. They have not determined when the pipe was disconnected, why or who did it, but the disconnect would have bypassed a safety feature meant to vent gas from the basement room of the building to the exterior, investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in a preliminary report on the Aug. 10, 2016, explosion that killed seven people, injured more than 30 and left more than 100 homeless.
“The person who disconnected the vent pipe, as well as his/her intentions in doing so, are as of yet to be determined,” investigators wrote. “The person who disconnected the vent pipe, as well as his/her intentions in doing so, are as of yet to be determined,” investigators wrote in a preliminary report that was made public Tuesday.
ATF investigators, who are working with the National Transportation Safety Board, said that for now the cause of the explosion and fire that followed are undetermined pending additional testing. Added tests also would be needed to determine the source of the natural gas leak. ATF investigators, who are working with the National Transportation Safety Board in its investigation of the incident, said that the cause of the explosion and fire that followed are undetermined pending additional testing. More tests also are needed to determine the source of the natural-gas leak.
NTSB investigators noted that the complex’s management company was cited a few months before the explosion for storing combustible material in the meter, utility and storage room. However, a report provided to investigators by Kay Management indicated that an inspection completed two days before the blast found that the room was “immaculate, spotless.”
The president of Kay Management said in an interview with investigators that the maintenance supervisor informed him that “there was no equipment, nothing within 15 feet of the meters, and there were two shelves on the left side, and maybe there were two snowblowers in there.”
NTSB investigators noted that Kay Management gave no reason why an inspection was done two days before the explosion, nor did it have any note of the visit. The room visit “was undocumented,” the report said.
Katie Lischick, a spokeswoman for Kay Management, said Tuesday that the vent pipe in question is owned and maintained by Washington Gas.
Brian K. Edwards, a spokesman for Washington Gas, declined to comment directly, citing the utility’s role as a party to the investigation.
“Upon the first anniversary of this tragic event, our thoughts remain with those impacted by what occurred in Silver Spring and we continue to support the community in every way we can,” Edwards said in an email.
[Natural gas explosion blamed in Silver Spring building explosion ][Natural gas explosion blamed in Silver Spring building explosion ]
Tenants at the Flower Branch Apartments tossed children from windows to people below and were left running down stairs crumbling beneath them when the explosion occurred just before midnight. The explosion occurred in the meter room of 8701 Arliss St. Investigators said the damage to nearby 8703 and 8705 Arliss St. was caused by its proximity to the building where the blast occurred.
ATF, in its report made public Tuesday, said that the disaster was an explosion that triggered a fire — not the other way around — and that teams did not find gasoline had been spread in the building or that a clandestine drug lab could have accounted for the damage. Investigators said the blast was so forceful that it blew a metal door from the building into an open field across Arliss Street.
The explosion occurred in the meter room of 8701 Arliss St., one of two apartment buildings damaged. Investigators said the damage to 8703 and 8705 Arliss St. were caused by its exposure at 8701 Arliss. ATF said that the disaster was an explosion that triggered a fire — not the other way around — and that teams did not find that gasoline had been spread in the building or that a clandestine drug lab could have accounted for the damage.
The meter room contains the gas meters for each apartment and also is the point at which the external gas line feeding the building comes into the structure and holds devices known as regulators that monitor gas flow, the investigators wrote. The meter room, located in the basement, contains the gas meters for each apartment and also is the point at which the external gas line feeding the building comes into the structure and holds devices known as regulators that monitor gas flow, investigators wrote.
Damage to the regulators, the bank of meters and the water heater in the basement was so extensive that investigators said they could not yet say what would have caused a buildup of gas capable of destroying the apartment building.Damage to the regulators, the bank of meters and the water heater in the basement was so extensive that investigators said they could not yet say what would have caused a buildup of gas capable of destroying the apartment building.
ATF report, among hundreds of pages of documents released in connection with the deadly explosion, also said that several witnesses described smelling the odor of natural gas in the days and hours leading up to the explosion. County officials had previously said that a resident of the building on July 25 reported smelling gas. But firefighters who responded to the call using detection meters to search for gas throughout the building found “no positive hits.” The massive explosion occurred shortly before midnight and shook the Silver Spring neighborhood, damaging adjacent buildings.
The investigation is being led by the NTSB’s Railroad, Pipeline, and Hazardous Materials Investigations division. Tenants desperate to escape following the blast at the Flower Branch Apartments tossed children from windows to people below and were left running down stairs crumbling beneath them.
Dozens of families in the primarily working-class and Spanish-speaking complex lost everything.
Among those killed were Augusto Jimenez, 62, and Maria Castellon, 53, who cleaned houses in the Washington area for more than two decades before finally saving enough to buy a piece of land in their native Nicaragua and build a home, where they had hoped to retire in three years.
[Silver Spring couple cleaned homes to save money for retirement]
ATF’s report, among hundreds of pages of documents released in connection with the investigation, said that several witnesses described smelling the odor of natural gas in the days and hours leading up to the explosion. Montgomery County officials had previously said that a resident of the building on July 25 reported smelling gas. But firefighters who responded to the call using detection meters to search for gas throughout the building found “no positive hits.”
A witness sitting in his car parked in front of the building said he saw a “sudden white flash and [felt] a little shove wave that came toward him.”
The investigation is being led by the NTSB’s Railroad, Pipeline, and Hazardous Materials Investigations Division.
Dan Morse contributed to this report.Dan Morse contributed to this report.
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