Federal regulators said staff at Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bristol, Pennsylvania, reported a natural gas odor on Dec. 23 and brought in workers from the local utility company hours before a deadly explosion at the nursing home outside Philadelphia.
The preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board describes a roughly three-hour span between the report of the gas odor and the blast. It also outlines how utility personnel were on the scene for much of that time.
According to the report, a maintenance director at the facility detected the natural gas smell in the basement and called the utility company on Dec. 23. The PECO worker arrived just before noon, about an hour after the odor was detected, and staff also smelled gas on the first and second floors.
The report says an Exelon energy technician determined there was a leak on a meter set valve in the basement and called for help fixing it. A meter set includes the meter, regulator, piping, valves and fittings.
An Exelon foreman then sent out a meter services technician to make the repair. That technician arrived at about 1:20 p.m., and the explosion occurred at around 2:15 p.m., the report said.
In the aftermath, the NTSB preliminary findings included utility workers’ presence and witness accounts of heavy gas smell, raising questions that had not been resolved at the time. The account also traced the leak to a valve in a meter set in the basement boiler room.
The explosion killed two residents and an employee and injured about 20 people, including one of the utility workers, a few days before Christmas. Part of the building collapsed, trapping people inside as emergency workers, facility staff and even medics from a nearby hospital rushed to evacuate people.
The report said Exelon shut off gas flow to the facility almost two hours after the explosion, and it said investigators plan to focus on Exelon’s pipeline safety management. The NTSB also said attention will be directed to how the company trains people, their qualifications, “odor complaint response” and other factors.
Federal inspectors said they tested the line and gas equipment, with some items sent to a lab for more study. Investigators’ next steps are expected to build on the timeline and technical findings described in the preliminary report.
In an emailed statement, a PECO spokesperson said the company recognized “the importance of continuous improvement and vigilance with respect to the safe and reliable delivery of electric and natural gas service.” The spokesperson said PECO offered sympathy to the victims and their families, to displaced residents and to the wider community.