Neighbors want answers after deadly house explosion in Plum

PLUM BOROUGH, Pa. — There are a lot of questions surrounding Saturday’s house explosion that killed five people, which is the third house explosion in Plum over the last 15 years.

“It was beyond traumatizing,” said Michele Joyce, who lives one street over from Rustic Ridge Drive, where the house exploded. “Heard an explosion, sounded like a bomb went off, of course, we all flew outside.”

The spokesperson for Allegheny County says determining the cause of the explosion could take months or years.

• LATEST UPDATES: 5 people dead, including child, after massive explosion in Plum
• PHOTOS: House leveled in explosion in Plum Borough; several other homes damaged

The fire marshal is still investigating last year’s house explosion in Plum along Hialeah Drive. A couple and their three sons who lived there survived.

Residents told 11 News that they want answers.

“I think everyone is wondering what happened. I mean, why?” Joyce said.

In 2008, a house exploded along Mardi Gras Drive in Plum, killing a man and seriously injuring a 4-year-old girl. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated and discovered it was caused by a two-inch gas line that was damaged and then failed five years later after it corroded.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Rustic Ridge neighborhood sits on top of abandoned mine land and is surrounded by shallow oil and gas wells. There is also a pipeline that runs behind the housing development, but none of these have been identified as the cause of the blast.

“We are sickened by it, the community, Rustic Ridge, everyone is pulling together, that’s what makes Plum such a wonderful place,” Joyce said.

11 News reached out to Peoples Gas Company to address the community’s concerns. They said they are providing their resources to help the Allegheny County fire marshal in this investigation, including additional tests of their system.

We also reached out to the Department of Environmental Protection to ask about those mines, but haven’t heard back.

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