Secretary of Pennsylvania DEP says agency determined to find cause of Plum house explosion

PLUM, Pa. (KDKA) — The secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said the agency is determined to find out the cause of the deadly house explosion in Plum.

The DEP has been working with local authorities and first responders since the explosion that killed six people on Aug. 12. The state agency has had a handful of experts on the ground collecting samples to determine any possible sources of methane in the area.

Secretary Richard Negrin said right now, that is where the investigation stands, adding that the DEP is looking at the area from all sides and angles to make sure no potential sources are missed.

Negrin says there isn’t a source or possibility the agency is able to rule out at this point. 

Last week, local investigators said the home where the explosion happened had “hot water tank issues.” When asked if his department was leaning toward one particular source, Negrin said he didn’t want to speculate, but instead wants to look at all of the pieces of the investigation first.

“We’re looking at all that and we’re going to make sure that we kind of run all that down,” Negrin said. 

“We actually took a sample below the foundation of the home itself. So, we’ll be looking at all those things,” he added.

Negrin says members of his department will be in Plum for the duration of the investigation and it may start to get a clearer picture of what happened soon. Negrin said the governor has ordered the results of all of the samples taken to be expedited, which means those results could be coming in as early as the end of this week.