Table Of Content
- House explosion in Pennsylvania kills five and destroys three structures
- dead, several hurt in Pennsylvania house explosion
- An explosion razes a home in Maryland, sending 1 person to the hospital
- Man runs into burning home to rescue neighbors in Pennsylvania community
- people, including a child, are dead after an explosion destroys 3 homes and damages 12 others
- charged with abuse of a corpse after body of Aliquippa woman found in abandoned building

First responders said there were people trapped under debris, two houses on fire, multiple houses damaged and it appeared “as if one house had exploded,” authorities said. The Allegheny County fire marshal’s office is leading the investigation, along with local law enforcement. A sixth person has died days after a house exploded in Pennsylvania, officials said. Five people have died, including a teen, following a house explosion in Pennsylvania that caused multiple injuries and several house fires, officials told NBC News.
House explosion in Pennsylvania kills five and destroys three structures
“I am in constant communication with Governor Shapiro, who has expressed his unwavering support for the Plum community and for the use of all available investigative measures. At the Governor’s request, an extensive amount of testing has been completed. Over the next few days additional testing will be conducted and shared with the public appropriately,” added Negrin. According to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner, Paul Oravitz died Wednesday. His wife was able to escape through a window and his daughter was able to run out with the dog. Michael Thomas, 57, also was a neighbor of the Oravitz family who was in the house when it exploded.
dead, several hurt in Pennsylvania house explosion
Casey Clontz, 38, Keegan Clontz, 12, Heather Oravitz, 51, Kevin Sebunia, 55, and Michael Thomas, 57, all died Saturday. "The road ahead for the family is and will continue to be long and hard," the post reads. Sebunia is survived by his wife, two daughters, and a grandson, among others. She said Paul, 56, and Heather, 51, were "very devoted, very family-focused, dependable and kind."
An explosion razes a home in Maryland, sending 1 person to the hospital
“Lori and I are praying for family, friends, and neighbors who lost someone in Plum yesterday, and we’re grateful for the first responders who ran towards danger to save lives. The five Pennsylvanians who passed and their families are in our thoughts today. Casey and Keegan, who lived on nearby Brookside Drive, were at the house at 141 Rustic Ridge Drive when it exploded, the family told the Trib. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation, the office said, and there is no time frame for when the probe will be completed. The investigation at the scene of the explosion has been completed and the property is being returned to its owners, the agency said in a release.
Man runs into burning home to rescue neighbors in Pennsylvania community
Crescent Township house explosion kills 2 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Crescent Township house explosion kills 2.
Posted: Wed, 13 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
"BGE came around and was probing all the areas and all the houses and then they didn't find anything, they said," Michael told WJZ. Two people were hospitalized, Keller said, with one in critical condition and another undergoing surgery. Officials say 19 people lost their homes to the fire, but no one was seriously injured. We’ve reached out to the DEP to ask if it was aware of the private well on Riverview Road before Tuesday morning’s explosion. Officials said at least two other homes nearby were damaged in the blast.

people, including a child, are dead after an explosion destroys 3 homes and damages 12 others
However, the DEP cannot enforce compliance if it does not know a well exists. It is also possible for homeowners to be unaware of an old private natural gas well on their property. In an initial press conference, officials said there were propane tanks and a private gas well at the site of the explosion.
Wild video shows explosion that killed woman and decimated Utah home
“The findings suggest that concentrations of gas detected on Aug. 14 came from (a) single inundation event, likely the explosion itself,” the DEP’s statement said. Gas samples were collected for isotopic analysis from five of those locations, including the area around a leaking gas pipeline, gas in the soil near a Peoples meter and under the foundation of the home. The home at 141 Rustic Ridge was owned by Paul and Heather Oravitz, and all six victims were inside that home when it exploded. If inspectors find sufficient levels of combustible gas, such as methane, soil samples will be taken for later analysis in a laboratory.
The cause is under investigation, though the homeowners had been having problems with their hot water tank, officials said Monday. As investigators try to figure out what caused a house explosion in Pennsylvania that killed six people, their loved ones are reeling from the unimaginable loss. Four children are among five people killed in a house explosion in Pennsylvania Thursday night, officials said. The cause of the explosion and fire is under investigation, Steve Imbarlina, the assistant chief for Allegheny County emergency services, said.
Peoples Natural Gas said Saturday night on its website that it shut off gas service to about 50 homes in the area as a precaution. Two were stable when they were transported and were released, and the third was in critical condition, they said. Lanny Conley, the chief of the Plum Borough Police Department, said at a news conference Sunday afternoon that four adults and one adolescent had died and been recovered from the scene.
One house appears to have exploded, with two others becoming engulfed in flames, according to Allegheny County spokesperson Amie Downs. It is unclear what caused the explosion, and the investigation is expected to be "slow and long," officials said. A representative from the gas company said pressure and smell checks done in the area indicate that the "system was operating as designed" at the time of the explosion. The Allegheny County medical examiner's office will identify them, the Facebook post said. The development is on abandoned mine land surrounded by shallow oil and gas wells, some of which have been abandoned.
Several homes were destroyed when the explosion occurred Saturday morning in Allegheny County, officials told reporters during a press conference on Sunday afternoon. Five people were found dead after a house explosion in western Pennsylvania destroyed three structures and damaged at least a dozen others, authorities said on Sunday. An 89-year-old man and an 87-year-old woman were found dead at the scene of a "severe" house explosion in Pennsylvania on Tuesday morning that damaged two other homes, authorities said. Upon arriving at the scene, authorities found people trapped under debris and reported that it appeared that one house had exploded while two others were "engulfed in fire," police said. PLUM, Pa. (AP) — Five people were found dead after a house explosion in western Pennsylvania that destroyed three structures and damaged at least a dozen others, authorities said Sunday.

Governor Josh Shapiro’s administration is working with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) as it conducts its investigation. “Because they would do it for us, that’s the kind of family they are, they are amazing so to just give anything back,” said Harrison. The cause and manner of the victims’ deaths are still pending, and there is no time frame for when those determinations will be made.
State officials had previously ruled out natural gas from an abandoned underground mine as a cause. Authorities have also said the home’s owners had been having problems with their hot water tank. "It's just tragic, I mean, it looks like a war zone — it looks like a bomb hit our neighborhood and it's just unfortunate," Kolankowski said. "I was just with some of the neighbors yesterday, right, and now this happens." In all, 57 firefighters were treated on scene for minor issues — many of them for heat exhaustion.
“The tank was located in the basement of the home,” county officials said. The Allegheny County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating multiple possibilities, including the homeowners having “hot water tank issues,” Plum Borough and Allegheny County officials said in a news release. Two of the five dead victims have been identified as Casey Clontz and his son, Keegan, the Trib reported.
Imbarlina warned that the investigation would be a “slow and long process” that would include a lot of forensic testing and could last “months if not years”. Tomer told reporters that there were "natural gas on site from a private well" and propane from a private well. The cause of the explosion is under investigation by Plum and county law enforcement agencies and the county fire marshal’s office. The state Public Utility Commission and local utilities also were at the scene. A company spokesperson said Wednesday that it had completed additional system testing with the Fire Marshal’s office and the state Public Utility Commission, meaning it can now begin restoring gas service.
Two other adults were in critical condition after the blast that occurred minutes after 8 p.m. “This is certainly a sad, sad day and a sad time, for not just the folks in Plum but all the folks in the community and in this region,” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said, per the AP. The borough of Plum urged people to stay away from Rustic Ridge in the immediate aftermath of the explosion.