Moon Township, PA - On Wednesday, March 16, 2005 at approximately 3:13 p.m. Moon Township Communications Center received multiple reports of a house explosion on Bertley Ridge Drive, near Gilshire Drive in Moon Township. Callers were reporting that one house was completely leveled and engulfed in flames, and the house next door was starting to catch fire. Other callers were reporting that the explosion was so forceful, that it blew windows out of their houses several hundred feet away. Moon Township Communications Center dispatched Moon (Station 197) and Moon Township Police. Valley Ambulance Authority was contacted to dispatch EMS units to the scene.

As units were responding, callers continued to report the incident to Moon Township Communications Center. Several neighbors reported that a teenage female occupant of the house is dazed, wandering around the scene and is injured. They also reported that a teenage male occupant jumped from the fully involved remains of the house, and was badly burned. Emergency personnel were updated about the confirmed injuries, however it was unknown if there were any additional victims.

Moon Township police officer Doug Ogden was on Beaver Grade Road approaching station 197 (Downes) fire station, still approximately two miles away from the scene, when he radioed that there are columns of black smoke visible in the distance. Station 197 Chief Charles Belgie upon leaving his office at the Moon Township Public Safety Building, which is located several miles from the scene of the explosion, reported very heavy plumes of black smoke in the distance. Upon hearing the updates broadcasted about the neighbors reporting that one male has serious burns, Valley EMS supervisor requested that their dispatcher place medical helicopters on standby, in the event they would be needed.

Officer Ogden arrived on the scene within minutes and reported one house completely leveled and engulfed in flames, an additional house next door to the leveled house was heavily damaged by the blast and was beginning to burn. Upon further investigating, Officer Ogden located a male and a female sitting on the ground in front of a house, a few doors away from the house that had exploded, being treated by an adult female.

Officer Ogden began immediately learned that the two people were inside the house when it exploded. Officer Ogden noted that both individuals were covered with dust and debris, and that the male’s clothing was tattered. Officer Ogden requested that Moon Communications update Valley EMS to expedite for a male patient who is conscious and has apparent 3rd degree burns.

As officer Ogden was attending to the injured teenagers, officers Kavanshansky and Starko, who arrived on the scene at the same time as officer Ogden, proceeded to the fire scene to check for additional victims. Sgt. Smith and officer Humbert arrived on the scene moments after the other officers and immediately established traffic control at the intersection of Beaver Grade Road and Bertley Ridge Drive.

Valley EMS arrived on the scene within minutes and initiated patient care. EMS supervisor radioed their communications center and requested that the nearest medical helicopter respond to the nearest landing zone, which would be the former McCormick Elementary School, located approximately 1/2 mile west of the explosion/fire scene.

197C-1 was notified of the landing zone location. 197C-1 made arrangements for one of the responding fire units to divert to the former McCormick Elementary School and establish the landing zone. 197C-1 was advised by EMS command that STAT helicopter should be at the LZ within ten minutes. EMS personnel loaded the seriously injured male into the ambulance and rushed him to the landing zone. The male was hot loaded into the waiting helicopter and airlifted to Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. The injured female was transported to Mercy Hospital by EMS. Both victims were admitted for treatment. The male was listed as critical and the female was listed as fair.

Chief Belgie arrived on the scene a few minutes behind Officer Ogden, and assessed the situation. Chief Belgie reported one house completely leveled and engulfed in fire, with the sector 2 exposure, a two-story frame/brick single family residential structure damaged by the blast on side 4 of the exposure, with flames and smoke showing from the sector 4 side. Chief Belgie assumed Bertley Ridge command.

Command requested that Coraopolis and Crescent Township be notified for water supply and manpower, at approximately 3:24 p.m. Moon Communications dispatched Crescent Township (Station 129) and notified Coraopolis to have them dispatch Coraopolis (Station 127). The first piece of fire apparatus to arrive on the scene was 197 Engine 4, which is a tele-squirt. 197 Engine 4 hit the hydrant on the way into the plan, and laid a supply line up to the scene. 197 Engine 4 took a position on the 1-2 side of the structure and extended the 50’ stick to initiate master stream operations.

Additional Engines and support crews arrived on the scene moments behind 197 Engine 4. As the nozzle from 197 Engine 4 was trained on the flaming remains of the leveled structure at 107 Bertley Ridge, other crews initiated an aggressive attack on the flames that were lapping up the sector 4 side of the sector 2 exposure. Additional support crews advanced attack lines and began attacking the heavy volume of fire from the remains of the structure that exploded.

While crews were battling the blaze, natural gas vapors continued to burn around the perimeter of the property. Officer Ogden noticed a piece of construction equipment in the front yard of the leveled house, close to the roadway. Officer Ogden noticed a Columbia Gas vehicle parked further down Bertley Ridge, beyond Gilshire Drive. Contact was made with the gas company employee, who advises that they responded to a report of an emergency locate call at approximately 2:00 p.m. Columbia Gas employee advises that they had crews on the scene approximately 30 minutes after the notification and began performing safety checks in the area.

Preliminary investigations indicated that a sub-contractor, who was doing work for Comcast cable, punctured a 2” gas line during drilling operations. The Columbia Gas employee requested that officers assist in evacuating the entire housing plan, which consisted of several houses along Bertley Ridge and Gilshire Drives. Officers Ogden, Kavanshansky and Starko began going door to door to all the houses within the plan. Most of the houses in the plan, the occupants had already fled the area, or were not at home. As far as the residents that were still at home, officers assisted them out of their residence and directed them up to the staging area, which was established at the former McCormick Elementary School.

Crews had the bulk of the heavy fire knocked down by approximately 3:45 p.m. Crews had the fire under control in the sector 2 exposure and were in the process of checking for extension. Quick aggressive tactics kept the fire damage in the exposure structure confined to the 1st and 2nd floors on the sector 4 side of the structure, which minimized the smoke and water damages. Crews continued to pour copious amounts of water onto the remains of the original structure.

At approximately 3:47 p.m. Command requested that Comcast be contacted to send a supervisor to the scene, as emergency personnel were still attempting to account for the employees who had been operating the auger, to drill in the front yard of the leveled house. Columbia Gas employees worked feverishly to attempt to shut down the gas to the entire area, as the natural gas vapors continued to burn near the source of the leak and on the property of the leveled house. Command requested that Duquesne Light be notified to shut off the power to the entire plan. Columbia Gas employees were able to get the gas shut off in the plan by approximately 4:00 p.m. Crews continued to hose down the hot spots that continued to burn within the remains of the structure.

At approximately 4:30 p.m. Student Transportation of America, which is the school bus service for Moon Township School District, sent five school buses to the staging area, The buses were going to be utilized to shuttle evacuees from the staging area to the Moon Township Municipal Building, where representatives from the American Red Cross were going to be on hand to assist the evacuees, by providing them with food and temporary shelter, as long as the evacuation order remained in effect. In all, approximately 40 houses were evacuated, however most of those evacuated went to stay with family and friends. Some of the evacuees, who did not have a place to go, received vouchers to stay at the Courtyard Marriott in Moon Township, or the Four Points Sheraton in Findlay Township. The evacuees were not permitted back into their residences until Columbia Gas officials and incident commander gave the all clear. Columbia Gas officials estimated that the residents would be out of their homes for approximately 16-24 hours.

Firefighters continued to hose down the smoldering remains in an effort to extinguish the remaining hot spots under the piles of rubble. Moon Township Road Department brought a backhoe to the scene to assist in sifting through the pile of debris, to help expose the hot spots for firefighters to extinguish. Gas employees went house to house within the plan, conducting a thorough inspection and taking explosive level readings, to be sure that all of the additional residences were free of gas build up. The blast, which could be heard and felt a good distance away, created a significant debris field around the scene. In addition to the leveled house and the sector 2 exposure, several other homes sustained damage, consisting of impact marks from flying debris, broken windows and various other degrees of structural damage. A female who lives directly across the street from the house that exploded, who was in her kitchen at the time, was knocked up against the sink from the powerful blast. Neighbors blocks away reported feeling the ground shake when the explosion occurred.

Investigators from Moon Township fire and police departments, Allegheny County Fire Marshal’s office, Columbia Gas and the Public Utilities Commission were back at the scene of the explosion first thing Thursday morning, sifting through the debris and digging for clues, to determine exactly what led up to and caused the explosion. Columbia Gas crews were able to install a temporary gas line in the neighborhood and get gas service restored to the evacuated homes, by approximately 10:00 a.m. Thursday, approximately 20 hours after the incident began. With gas and electric restored to their homes, evacuees were given the all clear to return to their homes late Thursday morning.

Preliminary investigations indicate that employees from Conn-X, a sub-contractor for Comcast based out of Lawrenceville, were using an auger machine to drill holes near the sidewalk on the property at 107 Bertley Ridge Drive, for installation of a high-speed internet cable, when they drilled through a 2” natural gas line. The natural gas apparently migrated along underground sewer lines and escaped into the closed up residence. The natural gas continued to build up inside the house, until it reached explosive levels.

18-year-old Marc Rateau and his 14-year-old sister Chelsea arrived home from school and entered the house. Upon entering, they detected a strange odor in the residence. Chelsea proceeded to the family room on the 1st floor and sat down to watch television. Marc went upstairs to his bedroom on the 2nd floor. Moments later an ignition source sparked the gas vapors, which caused the explosion and subsequent fire. The cause of the explosion and subsequent fire remains under investigation.

Reassuring news came Thursday, when it was learned that Marc, who is autistic and a junior at Moon Area School, has no damage to his lungs and has an excellent chance for survival and a complete recovery, even though it will be a long road to that recovery. Chelsea was released from the hospital after being treated for burns to her arms and behind her ear. Marc is very well liked at school he type of person that once he knows your name, he never forgets it. Moon area students signed several large get-well banners for Marc and already collected over $3,000 for the Rateau family. A neighbor established a fund for the Rateau family at PNC bank.