Wednesday’s explosion in Elizabeth is believed to have be caused by gas.
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Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said there was an obvious breach in a gas line that caused the explosion, but investigators have not yet pinpointed where that was. He says that could have played a role in the Wednesday morning blast because it likely tapped into someone else’s utility.
Authorities are also looking at whether a gas line was not properly capped after a dryer was removed the property, Bollwage said.
Bollwage said gas service to the first floor was shut off in September, when a tenant moved out.
Bollwage said tenents reported spelling gas on Tuesday, but there is no record of any one notifying emergency services or the gas company. Brown lived on the second floor of the duplex that was leveled “like a pancake” in the blast.
Police say 24-year-old Femi Brown died in the blast.
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The mayor also updated the condition of other victims, saying that of five people at the burn unit at St. Barnabus Hospital only two remain in critical condition.
