The remaining families forced to evacuate due to a gas leak and home explosion in Centreville, Virginia, will be able to return to their homes soon.
Assistant Chief of Operations for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Eric Craven says final testing is wrapping up at the homes of the remaining 19 families displaced.
“We anticipate that most of these will be cleared for reoccupation within the next 24 hours. We will not move forward until the conditions support it,” Craven said.
The explosion happened Feb. 9 on Quail Pond Court, injuring the person living in the home and their neighbor.
Speaking at a recent news conference, Jason Weekley, senior vice president of utility operations for Washington Gas, tried to reassure residents who live in the area about their work to fix the leak.
“We’ve conducted multiple safety surveys, multiple leak surveys, so we’re very confident in the safety of the system in this area,” Weekley said.
Weekley described a multipoint process that’s been used by Washington Gas since the explosion to determine if it’s safe to allow people to return.
He declined to comment about reports of smells of gas in the area, some occurring the day before the explosion.
Weekley said the National Transportation Safety Board will issue a final report on the cause of leak, the explosion and next steps for safety in about 30 days.
After a week of testing, Washington Gas found and repaired the source of the gas leak.
“Investigators identified a section of polyethylene plastic pipe near the corner of Quail Pond Court and Belle Plains Drive that leaked air during pressure testing,” the NTSB said in a news release.
Centreville residents ask town hall about timeline
Residents in Centreville who live near the site of a gas leak and explosion that injured two people and forced dozens to evacuate for days got a chance at a town hall Thursday night to ask questions of Fairfax County leaders and Washington Gas officials.
One of the questions asked was why it took so long to find and fix the gas leak. It took nine days for that to occur, leaving dozens of families displaced from their homes.
Weekley, with Washington Gas, said the process has to be deliberate.
“That takes longer sometimes than folks would like. With that said, it’s intended to make sure that we’re systematic and ultimately end up finding what happened in terms of the area and making that repair,” he said.
Other questions focused on the safety of the neighborhood, even though a permanent repair has been made.
Weekley reassured residents that Washington Gas checked and rechecked every home before anyone was allowed to go back home.
“We understand how unsettling the past several days have been and recognize the concern, fear and uncertainty that many have felt. Your safety, your homes and your peace of mind matter and they guide every decision we make,” he said.
He also asked the community for patience while the utility works to rebuild trust.
Fairfax Assistant Chief Craven said the department will be in the affected neighborhood twice daily for the next week.
“There’s an avenue in which residents can sign up to request … opportunities to have the Fire and Rescue Department come in and do atmospheric monitoring on all three levels of their house if they’d like,” Craven said.
Fairfax County’s incident response page has more information on how to request that testing.
Fairfax County Supervisor Kathy Smith, who represents the Sully District and the site of the explosion, told residents watching the town hall that she hears and sees her constituents and is advocating for them through this.
“What happened on the night of Feb. 15 on Quail Pond Court was frightening and unacceptable,” she said.
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