Explosion kills 5, injures 2
Authorities said 8 homes were affected, 2 were destroyed
An explosion so powerful it was felt blocks away killed five people, including four children, Thursday night and left residents stunned in Pottstown.
The explosion, in the 400 block of Hale Street of this Montgomery County community, hit just after 8 p.m. Eight houses were affected, but many houses shook from the blast and windows were blown out in some homes blocks away.
The scene looked as if a tornado had hit. There was no part of the structure at 453 Hale St. remaining, just shards and pieces and a hole about 20 feet deep. In addition to the five people killed in the home, two others were injured and were being treated at regional trauma centers.
The five killed were identified as: Francine White, 67; Alana Wood, 13; Jeremiah White, 12; Nehemiah White and Tristan White, 8. Eugene White, 44, and Kristina Matuzsan, 32, were injured, according to Pottstown police.
“The investigation regarding this incident is still ongoing and will continue for some time. The ATF [Philadelphia Arson and Explosive Team], Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal’s Office, Pottstown Fire Department, and Pottstown Police Department are diligently working to determine the cause of the blast,” Pottstown police Chief Michael Markovich said in a news release.
“In all likelihood, further information on this topic will not be released until next week, at the earliest. Borough officials do not expect to provide additional public updates until investigators are ready to release details regarding the cause of the explosion,” he said in the release.
Authorities said eight homes were affected and two were completely destroyed.
Officials refused to speculate on a cause, but numer
ous residents have told reporters that there has been a constant smell of natural gas in the area for months, which they have reported and has been investigated to no avail. Officials at a news conference said they could not comment on how many 911 calls or other reports of gas had been investigated.
“We haven’t had a chance to look at those records,” said Pottstown Fire Chief Frank Hand. “We’ve been going since [8 o’clock] last night. No one has had any sleep. The whole area is pretty devastated, it’s almost like a big trench.”
Hand also confirmed there was a propane tank on the scene, which can be seen from the street as well.
Pottstown School Board member Phoebe Kancianic said she was at Pottstown High School Thursday night to pick up her son from band practice. The band was kept late while it practiced for Monday’s Memorial Day Parade on High Street.
“Just as they came out we heard the explosion and it was like fireworks, but at a low level. We may have been the first to call 911,” she said. “If they had been let out five minutes earlier, some of those kids would have been walking right past that house when it exploded.”
At the scene Friday afternoon, PECO crews were out in force, with one worker using a jackhammer to open up part of the sidewalk in front of the explosion site.
Also up all night were Red Cross workers who stayed in the gymnasium at Pottstown High School to provide aid to any who needed it.
“The American Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania has now provided a total of 9 families [25 people] with immediate emergency assistance, including shelter, food, personal care items and emotional support, following Thursday night’s explosion in Pottstown,” according to a statement from spokesperson Alana Mauger.
“Our trained disaster volunteers will provide free breakfast and lunch on Saturday, May 28, between 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at Pottstown Senior High School for residents in the community. We will also continue to evaluate the needs of those who are impacted.”
School counselors and counselors from Creative Health mental health agency were on hand to deal with any trauma. Counselor Kelly Leibold said several students showed up Friday morning not looking for help, but because they wanted to help others.
Pottstown Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez had a way all could help.
“I am pleased to announce that the Foundation for Pottstown Education has acted quickly and will be collecting donations to go directly to the families. To contribute, go to https://foundationpottstowned.org/donate/ and in the notes section, you can indicate your support for families affected by writing “Pottstown 526 Emergency Fund.”
At the scene Thursday night, neighbors and onlookers gathered as near to the scene as they could in disbelief and shock, while live wires sparked on the road nearby and police from across the Pottstown area set up warning tape.
Tandra Rambert stood in shock a few doors down from her home, clutching her keys and a pair of fuzzy slippers to her chest. She was in her house with her son just three doors down from the explosion when “I heard this loud blast and I fell on my knees and hid behind the couch.”
Her windows imploded inward, spraying glass and she ran outside with her son. The house next to hers had the entire front torn off and was leaning against hers. She watched helplessly as firemen used a crowbar to pry open the door of her neighbor on the other side to make sure no one was home, even as she said wanly “they’re not home.”
Rambert said the family in the house that exploded had moved in about a year ago and she did not know them well. “They had four or five kids and I know they just got a puppy,” she said.
All classes for students and staff in the Pottstown School District were canceled Friday. The explosion occurred just three blocks from the high school/middle school complex.
On Butler Avenue, just down the hill from the blast, neighbors called to each other from windows and front lawns to check on each other. Former Mayor Sharon Thomas and her husband, Barry, live in a home just doors from the explosion.
Her son, Kingdom Life Church Pastor Justin Valentine, was worried after he heard the news and could not reach his mother, so he drove from Douglassville, about five miles away. He was there when Sharon and Barry Thomas arrived and were enfolded in the arms of a neighbor.
One of those neighbors is Dorothy Auman who lives within a block of the explosion and has lived there for 13 years.
“I was in my husband’s recliner watching ‘Chicago Fire’ with my three dogs when I heard this blast, I ran to the window and saw this huge explosion, debris was flying as far as it could go,” Auman said. “The dogs were freaking out.”
One of her windows exploded inward and a photo of her children was knocked off the wall.