Investigators on Friday were canvassing the scene of an explosion the night before in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, that killed five people and injured two, officials said.
The blast destroyed a house and damaged other residences in the surrounding area.
Authorities on Friday afternoon identified the people killed in Thursday’s house explosion on Hale Street in Pottstown.
Killed in the explosion were Francine White, 67; Alana Wood, 13; Jeremiah White, 12; Nehemiah White, 10; and Tristan White, 8, the Pottstown Police Department said.
Another two people, Eugene White, 44, and Kristina Matuzsan, 32, were injured in the blast but survived and are in critical condition at regional trauma centers.
The investigation into the incident is ongoing, and will “continue for some time,” authorities said.
The property that exploded was a twin home with two single-family units, according to property records and the local fire commissioner.
According to a fire official on scene, both units were destroyed by the massive blast, but it wasn’t clear from which unit the blast originated.
In his many years as a firefighter, Pottstown Fire Chief Frank Hand said the explosion was one of the worst he’d seen.
Investigators, including police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were working to determine the source of the blast. They were still “looking into” whether the area had a frequent gas odor or other past gas-related issues; local officials, who had been up all night, said they had not had time to pull property or utility records.
The home that was destroyed had a propane tank inside, which remained intact at the site after the blast. Authorities did not know what it was for, and the ATF has contacted the propane vendor, Hand said.
The neighborhood is served by gas, but Hand said investigators would “look at everything” to determine a possible source, declining to say whether signs indicated a gas explosion was a likely cause.
“We have to verify if there was gas in that house or not. Was the propane being used for something else. We don’t know,” Hand said. “The ATF, we haven’t even had a chance to debrief with them yet.”
