Gas Explosion Rocks Northeast Philadelphia Neighborhood

Tuesday night around 8:15, I was standing outside a church in Northeast Philadelphia after meeting with a group of friends, when a few police cars started tearing down Tyson Avenue towards Torresdale Avenue. We attempted to cross the street to get to our car, when more police cars appeared, and for ten minutes we watched as over 50 police cars, undercover narc vehicles, fire engines and ambulances tore down the avenue. And we could hear even more emergency vehicles approaching from all directions. At one point, we were sure a police officer had been shot, but when we were finally able to get to the car and put on a local news station, we learned that a gas explosion had occurred four blocks down and two blocks over from our location. None of us heard it. Just goes to show how loud a group of gabbing women can be.

The explosion occurred at the 6900 block of Torresdale Avenue at Disston Street, just a block from one of my old apartments in the Tacony section of Northeast Philadelphia. One Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) worker, 19-year-old Mark Keeley, was killed, four other PGW workers and two firefighters were injured. A firefighter and two PGW workers were released from the hospital on Wednesday. Three others remain in the burn unit at Temple University Hospital.

Crews had been called to the corner around 7:20 that evening to address a gas leak and water main damage possibly due to pressure from a break in a 12-inch gas main. The surrounding homes and apartments above the businesses on Torresdale Avenue were evacuated. There were homes, storefront businesses, a retirement community and a 7-Eleven store at the location. At 7:30 p.m., gas was bubbling through the pavement. Around 8:30 p.m., the explosion occurred, sending a 50-foot fireball into the sky.

The next morning, I went to the scene to find Torresdale Avenue and surrounding streets blocked off by police and yellow tape as crews removed the remains of a PGW panel truck. A charred car sat on the corner of Torresdale and Disston in front of the 7-11. The Disston Chiropractic Center was all but gone and a duplex behind it on Disston Street was demolished. Second story windows on the blocks on either side of the blast were blown out and debris could still be seen on rooftops. Grim-faced PGW workers manned the yellow tapes that kept gawkers from getting too close. Since the last report I had heard was that one PGW worker was missing, I asked one worker, who didn't want to be identified, if they had found him, and was told yes, he'd been found after the fire was contained, in the wreckage. The worker had just gotten off his cell phone, and said that they were getting updates on the injured workers' conditions, and he had just learned that one man had lost an arm.

Wednesday night, I learned Keeley lived in my Fox Chase neighborhood and was a neighbor of a friend of mine, whose son had grown up with him. Keeley had been on the job a year, following his father into the "family business," taking a job with PGW last year right out of high school.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, were on site as well as the Mayor, L&I and other city officials Tuesday night. According to the Transportation Department, 80 similar accidents in 2009 killed nine and injured 50 people. Digging by contractors can cause explosions if gas lines are nicked, and constant freezing and thawing causes cracks, particularly in cast iron pipes, as are most of Philadelphia's, according to PGW spokesman Douglas Oliver. It is not yet known if the main that exploded was cast iron, but Philadelphia has experienced drastic changes in temperatures the past few weeks.

Surrounding homes and businesses are still without gas, and may be for several more days while the clean up continues and authorities investigate the cause of the explosion. Residents were allowed to return to their homes on Wednesday, but Torresdale Avenue will be closed "for some time" according to the fire marshal.

SLIDESHOW OF AFTERMATH OF BLAST; Yahoo News - Raw Video of Explosion; Yahoo News Video of News Report Interviews; Sources: NBC.com-Gas Explosion Rocks Philly Neighborhood; Philly.com-PGW Worker Killed in Blast; Philly.com-Family mourns;