"Ineffective responses" led to deadly 2024 Harford County house explosion, NTSB finds
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said ineffective responses to multiple calls about a suspected gas leak led to a 2024 house explosion in Harford County, which killed the homeowner and a contractor.
The NTSB's report found that Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) and parent company Exelon failed to effectively respond to multiple reports of a suspected gas leak in the hours before the blast.
The NTSB's report noted that the explosion and fire happened after natural gas leaked from a gas service-line pipe, migrated to the accident home, and ignited.
Trench issues and communication failures
The report found that those reports on the suspected gas leak were not properly acted on, which allowed the leak to go unrepaired for more than 10 hours before the explosion.
The report revealed that there was a faulty trench setup, where the gas service-line pipe and the accident electrical service lines were located.
BGE said the NTSB report did not determine that common trench issues led to the explosion.
The report also stated that four people reported smelling gas before the explosion.
The NTSB reported that the evening before the explosion, an electrical technician responded to the area near the home due to a power outage. The electrician reported diagnosing an electrical fault and reporting the suspected natural gas leak, closed the job ticket, and left.
The electrical technician told the NTSB that he was unaware that the electrical service line to the accident home was in a common trench with a gas service line.
A gas technician later investigated and reported seeing no indications of natural gas at the nearby home and left the neighborhood. The gas technician told NTSB that dispatch did not tell him about another reported suspected natural gas leak in the area.
On the day of the explosion, a county worker had failed attempts to call dispatch after smelling gas and hearing hissing sounds. NTSB said Exelon's call system had routed the county worker's calls to one of five on-call agents, an agent who was on duty but was not responsive.
The dispatch agent told the NTSB that he had been drinking alcohol before his shift, which was an unscheduled overtime shift, and had fallen asleep at his desk.
The county worker told his supervisor of the suspected leak and that he couldn't contact Exelon.
BGE responded to the report, stating that "BGE had procedures in place intended to ensure suspected gas leaks were promptly escalated and investigated. In this case, those procedures were not followed as intended, resulting in missed opportunities to identify and address the hazard before the incident occurred."
The statement continued, "While no action can undo the devastating loss caused by this tragedy, we are committed to learning from it and continuously improving our systems, processes, and safety culture."
Neighbors reported smelling gas before the explosion
A neighbor told CBS News Baltimore that she notified BGE of a strong gas odor a day before the house explosion on Arthurs Woods Drive in Bel Air, Maryland, on August 11, 2024.
"When I left, I walked out through the garage, and I just smelled gas. It smelled like gas, and I was unsure, but I noticed it immediately," a neighbor said.
Shortly before 7 a.m., the house exploded, killing the homeowner, 73-year-old Ray Corkran Jr., and 35-year-old BGE contractor Jose Rodriguez-Alvarado.
Three others were hurt, and 12 families were displaced from nearby homes.
Chris Field said his neighbor called BGE roughly 12 hours before the explosion to report smelling a strong gas odor.
The fire marshal's office said BGE later dispatched contractors to examine an electrical problem. The blast occurred shortly after they arrived.
The NTSB responded the next day to start its independent federal investigation.
"We always work with NTSB on any type of gas explosion," said Oliver Alkire, a master deputy with the Maryland State Fire Marshal. "The NTSB has jurisdiction over pipelines, gas pipelines."