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A recent history of house explosions in the Pittsburgh area

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A recent history of house explosions in the Pittsburgh area


PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Tuesday’s deadly house explosion in Crescent Township is the latest in a string of recent home explosions in the Pittsburgh area over the last several months.

Three home explosions have occurred in different parts of Western Pennsylvania, with two of them turning deadly. 

“It was complete devastation when we first arrived on scene.”

A husband and wife of nearly 65 years were killed when their home along Riverview Road in Crescent Township exploded on Tuesday morning.

David and Helen Mitchell both died in the blast. 

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The home where the explosion happened was leveled down to its foundation. 

Two people were killed in a home explosion along Riverview Road in Crescent Township.

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Two other homes nearby were damaged with debris landing in nearby trees and yards and into the Ohio River down the hill from the blast.

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Investigators say the home was serviced by a private well and not a public gas utility.  The Allegheny County Fire Marshal and ATF are investigating the cause of the explosion.  

Contractor severely burned in Sewickley Heights home explosion

Three different contractors were working on the furnace of a carriage home along Backbone Road in Sewickley Heights when the house exploded back in December. 

One of the contractors was taken to the hospital with severe burns. When the house exploded, debris was scattered all across the yard of the home. 

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A house exploded in Sewickley Heights on Dec. 12, 2023. 

Credit: Rich Engler

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Rich Engler, a neighbor who lives a couple of houses away, told KDKA that the explosion shook his house and he found the man who was severely burned in the yard.

“I ran back to look at him and he was in total shock,” he said. “I couldn’t even believe somebody made it out of that explosion alive and I could see his hands were really burnt up.”  

The fire marshal is trying to find the origin and cause of the explosion with the help of the Pennsylvania Utility Commission and Equitable Gas.   

Six killed in Rustic Ridge explosion

A quiet Saturday morning in Plum Borough brought a community to its knees when a home in the Rustic Ridge neighborhood exploded, destroying numerous nearby homes and damaging dozens of others, leaving five adults and one child dead in the aftermath of the blast.   

Three nearby homes were destroyed and a dozen other homes were damaged in the blast.

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A home in Plum’s Rustic Ridge neighborhood exploded in August, destroying three nearby homes and damaging a dozen others. 

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Casey and Keegan Clontz, Heather and Paul Oravitz, Kevin Sebunia, and Michael Thomas all were killed in the explosion.

Multiple other people were critically injured and dozens of firefighters were treated for minor injuries. 

In the days following the blast, Allegheny County officials said the home where the explosion happened was having “hot water tank issues.” The tank was in the basement.

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Allegheny County officials say that the investigation could take months or even years. 



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Pittsburg, PA

Man’s body found underneath trailer behind former Shop ‘n Save in Carrick

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Man’s body found underneath trailer behind former Shop ‘n Save in Carrick



Pittsburgh Police detectives are investigating after a man’s body was found underneath a trailer behind the former Shop ‘n Save store in the city’s Carrick neighborhood.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said late Monday night that detectives from the Violent Crime division responded to the area of Amanda Street and Wynoka Street in Carrick after a man’s body was found around 8:30 p.m.

Public Safety said the man’s body was found underneath a trailer and that he was pronounced dead by medics at the scene.

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Pittsburgh Police detectives are investigating after a man’s body was found underneath a trailer in the city’s Carrick neighborhood on Monday night.

Pittsburgh Public Safety


A photo provided by Pittsburgh Public Safety shows officers surrounding a taped off area and what appears to be a refrigerated trailer parked at the loading dock along Amanda Street behind the former Brownsville Shop n’ Save, which closed its doors last month

No details surrounding the circumstances of the man’s death were provided by Public Safety, who said that the cause and the manner of the man’s death will be determined by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office.

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The man’s identity has not been released.

Public Safety said the investigation into the man’s death is “ongoing.”



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Record number of peregrine falcons counted in Allegheny County

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Record number of peregrine falcons counted in Allegheny County



In the early 1960s, the peregrine falcon population declined so sharply that the raptors weren’t even nesting in Pennsylvania. But now, the National Aviary says a record number have been counted in Allegheny County.

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The National Aviary says six peregrine falcons were recorded in the county during the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count. The nation’s longest-running citizen science project collects data on bird populations for ornithologists, the aviary says. It also plays a role in guiding conservation action, like what was needed to bring peregrine falcons back from the brink of extinction. 

Because of the use of DDT, peregrine falcons were no longer nesting in the state of Pennsylvania by the early 1960s, the aviary said. But after the harmful pesticide, which negatively affects reproduction rates in birds, was banned in 1972, conservation efforts have helped the peregrine falcon rebound. It was removed from the federal endangered species list in 1999 and Pennsylvania’s list in 2021. 

The record number of peregrine falcons in Allegheny County is thanks in part to the nest on top of Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning in Oakland. For the past two years, biologists with the Pennsylvania Game Commission have banded chicks born in the nest. Three were banded last year, and two the year before that. 

People can watch Carla and Ecco raise their family in the nest on a livestream camera run by the National Aviary. Carla laid her first egg of the breeding season on March 16 last year, so the aviary says the start of another season isn’t too far away. 

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Police investigating two late-night McKeesport shootings

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Police investigating two late-night McKeesport shootings



Police are investigating two shootings that happened less than 30 minutes apart on Sunday night in McKeesport. 

Two men were injured in the shootings that happened at two different locations. 

Allegheny County Police said that the department’s Homicide Unit was requested and responded to assist in the shooting investigations.

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According to police, officers were first called to the area of Lysle Boulevard and Huey Street, where a man was shot just after 10:30 p.m. on Sunday night.

KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw the outside of the Sunoco gas station along Lysle Boulevard lined with crime tape and what appeared to be blood on the front door of the store. 

Police are investigating two late-night shootings that happened in McKeesport on Sunday. Officers were called to a gas station along Lysle Boulevard and an alleyway near Madison Avenue around 30 minutes apart Sunday night.It’s unclear at this time if the two shootings are related or connected.

KDKA Photojournalist Bryce Lutz

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Police also had an area taped off around the intersection of nearby 5th Avenue and Huey Street.  The man who was shot in the area was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Police said they are also investigating a shooting that happened in the area of an alleyway behind Madison Avenue, where another man was shot Dispatchers said the second shooting happened around 25 minutes after the first.

The two shooting scenes in McKeesport are located around 1/4 of a mile apart.

At the second shooting scene, KDKA’s news crew at the scene saw police taping off an alleyway between Madison Avenue and Petty Street. 

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Police are investigating two late-night shootings that happened in McKeesport on Sunday. Officers were called to a gas station along Lysle Boulevard and an alleyway near Madison Avenue around 30 minutes apart Sunday night.

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KDKA Photojournalist Bryce Lutz


Officers at the scene were shining flashlights and looking into a black sedan that had its flashers on.  The man who was shot in the area of Madison Avenue was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Police didn’t specify if the two shootings are believed to be related.



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