SILVER SPRING, Md. — Four days after a Silver Spring apartment building suddenly exploded, fire officials have deemed the incident an accident. Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services Chief Scott Goldstein is officially linking the explosion to an exposed gas pipe being cut during maintenance work.
A 1.5-inch-diameter gas pipe was found cut in the utility closet in the basement of building 2405, where the blast originated. According to Goldstein, a maintenance employee was in the building trying to fix a clogged drain in Apartment 101. The worker was using a snake to remove debris and sort out the clog. The worker then went to the unit below 101 and cut what they believed to be a drain waste pipe to remove the clog, and put a cap on the pipe.
Goldstein said his team located ladder and other work tools in that area consistent with that interview.
The maintenance worker went back upstairs and was in Apartment 101 when Goldstein says a "flash thermal event," aka a flash fire, occurred in that unit. The resident in 101 was injured and the maintenance worker came to that person’s aid. They were both exiting the building, and made it to the back stairwell, when the significant explosion occurred.
"We have not and will not be able to conclude an exact source of ignition with the multitude of ignitions sources throughout the building," Goldstein said.
Fourteen people in total were injured from the explosion, 12 of whom have been released from the hospital. One person remains in critical condition, and another is still hospitalized for a medical condition unrelated to the explosion and fire.
After K-9 units trained to detect human remains alerted multiple times in the same area of the remaining rubble Thursday and Friday, officials were concerned there could be one or more victims not yet rescued. However, after hand-removing the rubble and debris down to the grass level Saturday, and getting no more alerts from the dogs over the weekend, Goldstein said he feels "confident and comfortable" in saying there are no fatalities from this blast. A glove was found in the rubble, and Goldstein believes that was the source of the K-9 alerts.
“It’s been a long few days and it’s good to get some certainty of what happened here," County Executive Marc Elrich said Monday.
More than 150 residents, including 36 kids and 124 adults, were displaced from the three buildings ruled "unsafe to preoccupy" following the blast.
Residents in buildings 2415, 2419 and 2423 were allowed to return to their homes Friday night, with safety escorts, after Pepco got the power turned back on. Residents in 2411 and 2401 residents were allowed to return and get their critical items Saturday, but their buildings are still unsafe to occupy and will be for weeks, Goldstein said. Finally, residents in 2405, where the blast occurred, are expected to come to the site tomorrow to collect their critical belongings.
Goldstein said he and his team will turn control of the Friendly Garden Apartments back over to the property management Tuesday.
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Elrich wants to ensure that a few lessons can be learned from this traumatic explosion, with his first priority being passing legislation that will require all buildings with exposed pipes to label all pipes.
"The second issue for me is training of personnel," Elrich said. "If a maintenance person doesn’t know the difference between a gas pipe and a water pipe, should they be working on plumbing and gas lines? Were they trained in the facility itself and were they taken into the basement of a building where they would be working to see the pipes?"
Montgomery Housing Partners are still accepting cash donations, 100% of which would be used to provide relief to families as they move forward. Donations can be made on MHP's website, which can be found here.
According to Montgomery County, more than $462,000 has been raised so far for those directly impacted, and the first disbursement of funds is expected to begin as soon as Tuesday.
RELATED: Here's how to help those displaced by explosion at Friendly Garden Apartments in Silver Spring