Potentially catastrophic home explosion prevented in Plum

PLUM, Pa. — A potentially catastrophic house explosion was prevented in Plum, thanks to a quick-thinking friend.

Channel 11 has learned this was one of two gas leaks at neighboring homes on Kathy Lynn Drive in six days.

Colleen Cooper says last Sunday her husband smelled the strong odor of additive in the gas lines. She says the gas company showed up quickly and determined there was a leak in the front yard. That line was replaced within days, but she was left feeling very unsettled.

“I don’t feel very safe at this point living in this neighborhood,” Cooper tells Channel 11. “He did state that it looked like the line had not been checked since 1981.”

Six days later, fire trucks lined Kathy Lynn Drive from nearly half a dozen departments. The Coopers’ neighbor was out of town, but a friend happened to stop by and smelled gas.

“He immediately called the gas company; they came out and immediately broke down the door. Detected 4% level of gas, which someone told me 4.5% and that’s an explosion,” Cooper said. “If the furnace would have gone on, the house would have exploded.”

That homeowner didn’t want to be on camera, but said he was sick over what could have been a deadly explosion. He showed us the line going into his home, which was replaced. He said it nearly rotted away.

Peoples Gas says, generally speaking, the lines going from the curb valve to the meter and anything inside the house, fall on the homeowner to maintain and/or repair.

Cooper says families on their street, including hers, want answers and reassurance that their homes are safe, especially in light of the tragedy in Rustic Ridge, which took six lives in 2023.

“With the history of explosions in Plum Borough, you’d think they’d check every single line,” Cooper said. “Clearly they’re not if my line wasn’t checked since 1981. That’s just very disturbing.”

A spokesperson for Peoples Gas said at least every three years they do residential inspections on gas lines where equipment is used to detect leaks.

So far there is no indication these two leaks are connected.

Plum Borough has experienced five house explosions since 1990. Two were on Regency Drive in the 90s. One was a man attempting to harm himself, whereas the other was a deadly gas leak.

There was also a deadly explosion on Mardi Gras Drive in 2008. That was caused by a leak in a gas line that was struck years earlier by work being done on sewer lines.

The Fire Marshal has not ruled on the 2022 house explosion on Hialeah Drive or the deadly tragedy in Rustic Ridge in the summer of 2023. In Rustic Ridge, investigators say the explosion occurred within the house and that the family was having trouble with the hot water heater at the time.

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