INDIANAPOLIS — Investigators in the Indianapolis explosion that killed two people and decimated a neighborhood believe natural gas was involved and are focusing on appliances as they search for a cause, a city official said Tuesday.
Indianapolis Homeland Security Director Gary Coons made the announcement after the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators had found no leaks in the gas main or pipes leading into the house that exploded. The explosion Saturday leveled two homes and left dozens more uninhabitable.
Coons said his “investigators believe natural gas is involved" and were “recovering the appliances from destroyed homes to help determine the cause."
“Based on the NTSB statement, our focus is on the houses and appliances," Coons said in a statement.
The blast showed some signs that aren’t typical of a natural gas explosion caused by an appliance, experts said, but it still could have been tied to a faulty furnace — if conditions were right.
An owner of the house believed to be at the center of the explosion has said the home’s furnace had been having problems, but his estranged wife, Monserrate Shirley, said the furnace was fine.
Monserrate Shirley was living at the home but was not there when the explosion happened. She told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the thermostat was replaced recently, correcting a problem heating the home. She also said she smelled a strange odor outside before the blast, but didn’t know if it was natural gas.
Experts said homeowners shouldn’t be worried that their furnaces are about to explode.
John Erickson, vice president of the American Public Gas Association, said it would take a far more serious malfunction than just a pilot light going out.
The natural gas lines inside the house would be under the oversight of the utility or the state, said NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway.
Citizens Energy spokeswoman Sarah Holsapple said the utility had found no leaks in its underground facilities in the neighborhood.
