By Linda Spice
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin)
MILWAUKEE — Officials from the Milwaukee Fire Department and We Energies on Tuesday defended their response to a natural gas leak early Sunday that caused a house explosion that injured four people.
An hour before the blast, firefighters had responded to a report of the smell of natural gas in the area, assessed the situation, and left it in the hands of Milwaukee police and We Energies officials, Fire Chief Doug Holton said, in line with normal procedures.
Holton and We Energies officials spoke at a news conference at the Fire Department administration building, in response to reports that raised questions about why residents along N. 10th St. weren’t evacuated before the explosion, and why firefighters had left the scene.
We Energies Senior Vice President Charley Cole said the utility’s employees did just what they are trained to do when responding to a natural gas leak.
The explosion remains under investigation by the Milwaukee Police Department, which did not attend the news conference but issued a statement later.
“The cause of the explosion was the ignition of natural gas. We still do not know the source of that ignition and may never know, as the explosion destroyed the bulk of evidence in this case,” said police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz. “We are not investigating this as a crime.”
We Energies representatives also said they continue to investigate the explosion.
Holton provided the following timeline of events on Sunday morning:
2:15 a.m. - The Fire Department is called to 2452 N. 10th St. about a gas leak.
2:19 a.m. - Firefighters are met by the resident, enter the home, but do not get a reading of natural gas. The smell of gas, however, is noted in the neighborhood.
2:23 a.m. - The fire commander contacts We Energies. The commander was not equipped to identify the specific source of the gas leak in the street.
“The Milwaukee Police Department was on the scene before our department arrived, and said they would wait on We Energies to arrive. MPD had secured the scene, and the Milwaukee Fire Department left the scene at 2:32 a.m.,” Holton reported.
Holton said both firefighters and police officers had found a spot where gas was leaking from the street before determining that police would secure the perimeter and wait for We Energies.
“We did not think it was necessary to do an evacuation,” Holton said. “We checked the original house we responded to. There was no smell of gas or gas in the home. It did not give us any reason at 2:30 in the morning to start an evacuation.”
Cole said We Energies’ first responder arrived in the neighborhood at 2:43 a.m., about 26 minutes after the company learned of the leak.
Tim Baseler, the We Energies site commander on Sunday, explained that the first responder immediately got out of his vehicle, assessed the situation, and found a gas leak bubbling in the roadway. He called for assistance, and crews determined the higher readings were heading north.
He said crews had determined they needed to shut off the gas. He said a valve to the south was closed and crews were working on closing the valve to the north when the house at 2427 N. 10th St. exploded, near the home firefighters had checked earlier.
At 3:40 a.m., firefighters were called back, Holton said, and arrived at 3:43 a.m.
A couple living on one side of the two-unit townhouse escaped the explosion with minor cuts, police said.
A woman and son living in the other unit - Mary Oden, 31, and Octavius Holt, 8 - suffered second- and third-degree burns, police said.
Oden was still at Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Milwaukee on Tuesday night. Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin couldn’t give information about her son.
Copyright 2009, Journal Sentinel Inc.