Mar 12, 2009 6:39 am US/Eastern
Somerset Looks For Answers After House Explosion
SOMERSET (WBZ) ―
-
-
Rose Marie Rebello and her dog were killed in a house explosion in Somerset.
Boston Herald
Hundreds packed a public meeting in Somerset Wednesday night -- so many, officials had to move to a bigger building at the last minute.
They were there to ask gas company officials what is being done to prevent tragedies like the one that happened in their town last month. Rose Marie Rebello, 62, was killed when her
home on New York Avenue exploded near a leaky gas line.
An attorney with New England Gas Company explained that officials can not yet comment on what caused the blast. He did, however, rule out a defective pipe. "That exposure was not evidence of a systemic problem in the distribution system that's here in Somerset. The evidence appeared to be physical damage done to the pipe after it was installed by a third party," said Gerald Petros.
The utility has promised to replace hundreds of feet of gas line in the town, but that does little to calm people's fears. "This is not to us an incident," said state senator Joan Menard. "This is the death of a neighbor."
An attorney representing Rebello's family spoke at the meeting. Valerie Yarashus said they asked her, "to convey their deep concern for their neighbors still living in this community over the ongoing and unexplained lapses in safety. One life has already been sacrificed. This community can not afford another preventable death."
The Somerset blast is one in a string of recent explosions related to gas problems. The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) is looking into whether there is a pattern.
DPU Chairman Paul Hibbard says they have already ruled out some factors. "We haven't found any trend that says gas explosions are happening because of age or because of the type of material or because of how they were buried in the ground."
The DPU's investigation is expected to be completed in two weeks.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
