Home owner Jeannine Hughes and her family consider themselves lucky to be alive, as they were evacuated from their residence by UGI gas workers after a Gas Leak was reported at their Manor Township home. Their two sons were also not home at the time of the 12:16 p.m. explosion, which completely destroyed the house, killing one UGI worker and injuring three others.

Home destroyed in gas leak explosion

As reported by CBS21 News, the house was completely destroyed in the blast, in which the UGI workers were injured. Following the explosion the immediate area was blocked to the public and to residents, with neighbors saying the blast shook their homes.

Officials with the township have said four other homes surrounding the Hughes residence had been deemed unsafe and residents were not allowed to spend the night in these homes.

The National Transportation Safety Board is carrying out an investigation into the explosion and explained that the surrounding homes cannot be cleared until they have found the gas meter and an engineer has inspected the residences.

Steve Cook, Business Development Director for UGI, said in a statement that one of their employees was dead after the explosion and two other UGI workers were injured. A worker with the sewer authority was also injured in the blast.

Two of the injured are reportedly in a stable condition in hospital, while the third is currently in a critical condition.

Homeowner visits the site of her destroyed Manor Township home

Lancaster Online reports that Hughes visited the site of her former home later on Sunday, searching for any remaining belongings.

While surveying the complete destruction of her home, she said that overall, she considers herself lucky. She was shocked to see the neighbors’ yards, covered with fragments of her home, saying, “It’s really gone.”

Hughes explained that a passerby walking their dog in the area was the first to smell gas and phoned UGI to report this.

Hughes was then told to evacuate the home just after noon on Sunday due to a possible gas leak. She said UGI workers knocked on her door and told her she had to leave. However she did help the workers to open all the windows in the home before evacuating. Hughes said as she left, the workers had already started digging up her yard to access the gas line.

While Hughes was checking into a hotel nearby, she received a call from her son in Chicago to tell her the house was gone. He had reportedly seen details of the explosion on the news. Hughes said she had lived in the house for nine years and had to go back to see it after the blast. At the time of the interview, news of the death of the UGI worker had not yet been made public.
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