A federal agency released a preliminary report on its investigation into two back-to-back home explosions that happened within days of each other in Jackson, Mississippi, resulting in the death of an 82-year-old woman.
According to the Mississippi Free Press, the first home on Bristol Boulevard exploded on Jan. 24, killing 82-year-old Clara Barbour. Another person inside the home was able to escape. Three days later, a home less than a mile away on Shalimar Drive also exploded. That home was vacant, and no one was hurt. Both homes were destroyed.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigated both explosions to determine if they were connected in any way and if gas leaks or substandard infrastructure were to blame.
The agency released its preliminary report weeks after the explosions, stating that Atmos Energy Corporation, the company that provided natural gas to the houses, identified “non-hazardous” leaks in their distribution system near the homes before they exploded, but the company did not repair them at the time of their discovery.
NTSB later discovered that the operating pressure of the pipeline running under the neighborhood was about 336 pounds per square inch gauge (psig), which is below its maximum operable level.
“Both before and after NTSB investigators arrived, Atmos conducted postaccident leak inspections at both locations and found leaks on mechanical couplings near the previously identified leaks,” the NTSB report stated. “Atmos detected subsurface gas at the leaks nearest locations 1 and 2, the homes where the explosions occurred, and near the foundations of adjacent homes.”
