One victim identified in deadly Bucks nursing home explosion; cause under investigation; all staff and residents accounted for

The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates pipeline accidents, said it responded Wednesday morning to the scene of the explosion at the Bristol Township nursing home.

Peco crews had responded to the nursing home earlier Tuesday to reports of a gas odor just before the explosion, and firefighters reported the heavy odor of gas before a second explosion.

"The team won't be able to fully evaluate the natural gas service line, which extends below ground from the main near the road to the interior of the building, until a safe path is cleared, which could take several days," said agency spokesperson Peter C. Knudson.

The night before she died in the explosion, Muthoni Ndutu cooked spiced chicken for her husband and three adult sons to share on Christmas, her friend Rose Muema said Wednesday outside Ndutu’s one-story brick home in Bristol.

Ndutu, 52, was working a nursing shift Tuesday night when she was caught in the blast. Another woman also died.

An immigrant from Mombasa, Kenya, Ndutu earned her nursing degree from Jersey College, Muema said, and had worked at the home for more than a dozen years.

Natalie, 35, was almost finished with her Tuesday shift when the facility that she’d worked at for five years suddenly imploded.

The certified nursing assistant was among those pulled from the wreckage after an explosion and fire ripped through Bristol Health and Rehab Center Tuesday afternoon, said her mother, Andrea Taylor. Taylor asked that her daughter be identified only by her first name to protect her privacy.

Natalie, who has a 6-year-old daughter, remained hospitalized Wednesday with a punctured lung and bruising throughout her body, Taylor said. She can’t recall the explosion, where she was, or how she was found, her mother said, but she is expected to make a full recovery.

A Peco gas technician who responded to reports of a gas leak at a Bristol nursing home on Tuesday was seriously injured in the blast and then attempted to rescue other people from the damaged building, according to the union president who represents Peco workers.

Larry Anastasi, president of IBEW Local 614, said the technician arrived at Bristol Health & Rehab Center on Tuesday afternoon to address a reported gas leak. The technician was working alone in the basement of the nursing home to assess the problem when he resurfaced to get more tools from his truck.

As he was walking back toward the nursing home, the building erupted.

Gov. Josh Shapiro ordered all Pennsylvania flags on state buildings and property within Bucks County to fly at half-staff in honor of the victims of the explosion at Bristol Health & Rehab Center.

"To the Bristol community, we all stand with you — and we'll continue to provide the support your community needs as you begin to rebuild and recover," Shapiro said in a post to X.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker also ordered flags to be flown half-staff in Philadelphia across city buildings in solidarity.

Elizabeth Lind lives on Winder Street, her backyard divided from the nursing home by a chain-link fence.

On Tuesday afternoon, the 67-year-old was watching television when a sudden boom shook her house. The blast, she said, seemed to vibrate through her body. From her window, she saw black smoke rising from the facility where her older brother, Walter Ferris, has lived for years.

More than two hours passed, she said, before she learned he was safe. A nursing home employee brought the news Tuesday night. Until then, she said, “I just pictured him inside there. I was praying he wasn’t one of the casualties.”

In a post to X Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick expressed thanks for the first responders "who ran into danger again and again, risking their own lives to save others."

The Republican congressman promised that the events of the building collapse would be "thoroughly examined" and that the facts would be made public.

The one thing that is clear, he said, is that emergency responders were swift to respond and saved lives.

Bristol Township law enforcement officials Wednesday recalled the harrowing scene first responders encountered as they arrived at Bristol Health and Rehab Center one day earlier.

A thick smell of gas hung in the air. Flames were spreading. Inside, dozens of residents and employees needed help escaping.

“Send everybody,” one of the first responding officers radioed.

Late Wednesday morning, cranes began to hoist debris from a crumpled tangle of drywall, windows, and a white picket fence.

Donna Straiton watched from behind a line of yellow caution tape a block away from the rubble. It's what remained, she said, of the nursing home’s kitchen, which sat above its basement.

Straiton, 67, worked in the nursing home’s dementia unit for 20 years before retiring in February 2024. In her final years working at the home, fire alarms routinely went off, she said. She estimated the facility locked down no less than twice a month as the smell of gas wafted in the air.

Bucks County Commissioners Vice Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia said the response to Tuesday's explosion at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center was proof that the county can unify in the face of tragedy.

"[There is] a lot of division in this country, but we show up when we need to," said Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, about the efforts of first responders.

She said she was sending "warm thoughts" to families impacted by the incident and experiencing the "terrible shock and sadness."

Peco on Wednesday morning changed its explanation of what happened leading up to Tuesday afternoon’s massive explosion at a Bucks County nursing home that killed at least two people.

On Tuesday evening, the gas and electric company had said that its crews responded to the Bristol Health & Rehab Center — formerly known as Silver Lake Healthcare Center and Silver Lake Nursing Home — “shortly after 2 p.m.” and that while they were on site, the explosion occurred. The blast was reported just before 2:20 p.m. Tuesday, according to Bristol Fire Chief Kevin Dippolito.

But on Wednesday morning, the energy company backtracked, releasing a statement indicating that its crews had actually been on scene hours earlier — although it did not say precisely when they arrived.

Two people were killed and at least 20 were injured after a possible gas explosion rocked a Bucks County nursing home Tuesday, triggering a widespread emergency response and dramatic rescues and causing destruction that Gov. Josh Shapiro described as “quite catastrophic.”

Just before 2:20 p.m., an explosion and fire were reported at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center — formerly known as Silver Lake Healthcare Center and Silver Lake Nursing Home — at 905 Tower Rd. in Bristol Township, Bristol Fire Chief Kevin Dippolito said at a news conference with Shapiro and other officials Tuesday night.

Emergency responders found a major structural collapse, with parts of the first floor falling into the basement and people trapped, Dippolito said. Firefighters immediately went into rescue mode.

On Tuesday evening, the smell of smoke and the sound of sirens from ambulances and fire trucks pierced the blocks surrounding the facility hours after the explosion led to a mass evacuation of nursing home patients.

Kim Wilford, 60, was visiting family for the holidays roughly two blocks from the facility when she felt the house shake, as though something had fallen on the roof.

When Wilford and relatives realized the explosion came from the nursing home, where her 87-year-old mother lives, they rushed to the campus and were met with chaos.

The Bristol nursing home destroyed by an explosion and fire on Tuesday had been repeatedly cited for unsafe living conditions, including the absence of a fire safety plan and adequate extinguishers, according to state inspection records.

During an Oct. 29 site visit, Pennsylvania Department of Health inspectors flagged Silver Lake Healthcare Center — now operating as Bristol Health & Rehab Center — for failing to provide a floor map showing fire exits, fire barriers, and smoke barriers.

Officials also found the facility “failed to maintain portable fire extinguishers” on all floors. The state ordered corrections by Nov. 30.