Survivors of a deadly explosion that devastated an Indianapolis neighborhood are trying to rebuild their lives even as they await answers about what caused the massive blast.
Investigators are focusing on natural gas-fueled appliances as they search for the cause of Saturday's explosion, which killed two people, leveled two homes and left dozens more uninhabitable.
Indianapolis Homeland Security Director Gary Coons said Tuesday that his "investigators believe natural gas is involved" and were "recovering the appliances from destroyed homes to help determine the cause." He made the announcement after the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators had found no leaks in the gas main or pipes leading into the house that exploded.
"Based on the NTSB statement, our focus is on the houses and appliances," Coons said in a statement.
Some residents expressed frustration at the pace of the investigation Tuesday night during a meeting of about 150 residents of the Richmond Hill subdivision held at a church near the damaged neighborhood. But 51-year-old Helen Upton, who attended the meeting, said she and most of her neighbors are willing to wait while officials sort through the evidence to pinpoint the cause and source of the suspected gas explosion.
AP
Frank Rojas, an employee of Bolls Heating and Cooling, clean and checks a gas furnace Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012, in Indianapolis. An Indianapolis explosion that killed two people and decimated a neighborhood shows some signs that aren't typical of a natural gas explosion cause by an appliance but still could have been tied to a faulty furnace if conditions were right, experts said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Close "It's only been three days and there's a lot of debris and rubble where that house blew up, so I'm not surprised they're still being tight-lipped," she said. "But I think some of the neighbors are obviously getting anxious. There's just a lot of questions and a lot of 'we don't know yets.'"
Upton said she was at home sleeping while her ex-husband was visiting with their two children when a house about 50 to 60 yards away exploded. The blast nearly tossed her off her bed, she said, and shattered her home's front windows, blew off its front door and buckled her garage door.
Three days after the blast, Upton said, her household is "fully functioning" again and she's thankful none of her family were injured. But she said her home still has some boarded up windows and other needed repairs and her kids' nerves are frazzled.
"My kids are having trouble sleeping. They're afraid there could be another explosion since we don't know what it was," said Upton, who works at Indiana Farm Bureau.
An owner of the house believed to be at the center of the explosion has said the home's furnace had been having problems, but his estranged wife, Monserrate Shirley, said the furnace was fine.
Shirley was living at the home but was not there when the explosion happened. She told The Associated Press that the thermostat was replaced recently, correcting a problem heating the home. She also said she smelled a strange odor outside before the blast, but didn't know if it was connected to natural gas.
The natural gas lines inside the house would be under the oversight of the utility or the state, said NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway.
Citizens Energy spokeswoman Sarah Holsapple said the utility had found no leaks in its underground facilities in the neighborhood.
Gas and explosion experts say the blast has some unusual characteristics to have been caused by a faulty appliance.
"One hell of a lot of gas had to be leaking out ... and that's typically not symptomatic of a furnace problem," said Sergei Traycoff, president of Bolls Heating and Cooling in Indianapolis. "I've never heard of one causing this big a blast."
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