Pottstown residents are frustrated as state, federal agencies say little about the deadly explosion in May

Articles of clothing still dangle from tree limbs, sneakers and shoes remain scattered atop piles of rubble, and a chain link fence does nothing to obscure the awfulness of what happened to a Pottstown neighborhood two months ago.

On the Thursday evening before Memorial Day weekend, a tremendous explosion blew apart a duplex along Hale Street and killed five people, including four children.

Besides seeing a war zone-like vista every day and dealing with traumatic memories, neighbors cope with a void of explanation from government on exactly what happened.

Many suspect the cause was natural gas, because they smelled it in the area before the explosion.

If that turns out to be the cause, it would create a tragic parallel to a 2011 gas explosion in Allentown, which also killed five people.

But the state Public Utility Commission, which oversees the utility that provides gas service in the borough, will say little about its investigation in Pottstown.

On Tuesday, a makeshift memorial for the dead with photos, notes and toys remained in front of the fence. A cluster of home damage repair vans lined a nearby street, and mother of three Mollie Heverly stood on her next-door neighbor’s porch and spoke with frustration.

“We just want answers. We want justice for the family. Justice for those four kids and their grandma,” said Heverly, whose family will have to leave their home for up to six months so repairs can be made. “It absolutely could have been avoided.”

Richard Kuprewicz, a Washington-based chemical engineer who has made a career in pipeline safety investigations and related work, said two months is long enough for authorities to exclude some possible causes and share some information with the public.

“Give the investigators some time,” Kuprewicz said. “But the investigators also have to help the public by giving them answers along the way.”

In the Allentown tragedy, two children and three adults were killed on Feb. 9, 2011, when a gas explosion leveled homes in the 500 block of North 13th Street.

The investigation determined that an aging underground gas pipeline made of cast iron leaked. The PUC levied the maximum-allowable fine of $500,000 against the utility, UGI, and the company pledged to increase the rate of replacement of similar, old cast iron pipes.

Kuprewicz said it would be a natural question to ask whether cast iron pipes are involved in gas service in Pottstown.

A series of written questions submitted this week to the PUC by The Morning Call — including ones about the composition of gas mains near the blast site — prompted a one-sentence response.

PUC spokesperson Nils Hagen-Frederiksen said the Pottstown situation “remains the subject of an active and ongoing investigation.”

Borough Manager Justin Keller did not respond to inquiries, including one about the composition of gas mains.

Gas service in the borough is provided by PECO Energy, which is part of publicly traded Exelon Corp.

An Exelon spokesperson, Greg Smore, said the company had so far found no evidence its facilities caused the explosion and it had no record that the duplex ever was served by PECO natural gas.

The week after the explosion, borough Fire Chief Frank Hand said during an interview that one side of the duplex received natural gas for heating, and the other side propane. Hand this week did not respond to a request for an interview.

State Trooper Shaun Maher, a fire investigator who was involved in the Pottstown investigation, said the results of his work were being turned over to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which Maher said would be “writing the report” on the Pottstown incident.

A spokesperson for ATF’s Philadelphia Field Division, Robert Cucinotta, declined comment. And a spokespeson for the National Transportation Safety Board, Keith Holloway, said his agency was not involved in the investigation.

The two state lawmakers who represent the neighborhood — state Sen. Bob Mensch and Rep. Tim Hennessey, both Republicans — did not return calls seeking comment.

Marc Chalcraft, whose home at Hale and West streets is a short distance from the blast site and sustained cracked walls and door frames knocked out of line, said the neighborhood deserved to know some details.

“That’s bureaucracy for you,” he said. “”Let’s bury it under the rug.”

Dorothy Auman, who lives next door to Heverly, said the last official word she had on what was going on was a June 10 letter from PECO.

Among other things, it said that to date it had found no evidence its facilities caused the blast and “safety is our top priority.”

Auman said, “Nobody tells me what’s going on over here.”

Heverly said people who live nearby don’t want the explosion to be forgotten.

“Something needs to be done about it,” she said.