Investigation identifies who cut gas line that led to fatal Durham explosion
Four months after a deadly natural gas explosion rocked the area west of downtown Durham, the Durham Fire Department on Friday identified the company that cut the gas line and said gas was flowing from the line for an hour before the fatal blast. The blast, which killed two people and injured more than 25 others, was ruled an accident by investigators.
Posted — Updated"The circumstances and conditions of this explosion and fire causation are determined as an unintentional human act," Assistant Fire Marshal Brian Graves wrote in the report's conclusion.
A three-person crew from Durham-based Optic Cable Technology was drilling horizontally as part of a project to install underground cables when they struck a 3/4-inch gas line in front on Kaffeinate, a coffee shop at 115 N. Duke St., at 9:06 a.m., according to the report.
Shop owner Kong Lee quickly went outside to complain about the gas smell – the report includes images from a nearby security camera that shows Lee waving his hand in front of his nose as he talked with the crew – but there was no evidence that Lee or anyone from Optic Cable called 911 to report the gas leak, the report states.
A woman driving on North Duke Street called 911 at 9:11 a.m. to report a gas smell, but firefighters were initially dispatched to the 400 block of North Duke Street to investigate because of where the driver was when she reported it, according to the report.
"It can only be speculated why no additional calls to 911 were made for such a significant leak," the report states. "Numerous people walked directly over the sidewalk where the leak originated."
Firefighters weren't able to locate the source of the gas leak until after a second 911 call came in at 9:37 a.m. They then evacuated Kaffeinate and nearby businesses, but Lee refused to leave his shop, according to the report.
The explosion occurred at 10:06 a.m., an hour after the gas line was cut. Fire department investigators estimated 46,000 cubic feet of gas had flowed out by then, filling underground cavities near Kaffeinate.
"The source of ignition of the fugitive gas that accumulated in the building at 115 North Duke Street was not conclusively determined," the report states. "[H]owever, immediately prior to the explosion, Mr. Kong Lee was alone in the business, and his actions cannot be ruled out as a contributing factor to the ignition source of this fugitive gas."
Security video captured showed Lee exiting the coffee shop four times before the blast, the report says.
Related Topics
• Credits
Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
