SAN ANTONIO – The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released new details Thursday in its investigation into two North Side house explosions that erupted hours apart one month ago.
The agency said both blasts on April 21 were fueled by natural gas.
The first explosion at a home in the 15000 block of Preston Hollow Drive took place at 6:04 p.m. San Antonio fire crews responded to the scene approximately five minutes later and quickly extinguished the fire, NTSB said. Timothy Nowell, Kimberly Nowell and their teenage daughter were injured in the first blast.
Representatives from CPS Energy arrived on scene just after 6:30 p.m.
Around 8:30 p.m., however, TheTXLoop crews heard a loud “boom” and saw flames shooting out of another home two houses away from the first explosion on Preston Hollow Drive. The NTSB said the second house explosion erupted at approximately 8:25 p.m.
Two people inside the home, later identified as Jose Ochoa and Mayte Terrie Reeves, were injured in the second explosion.
According to the agency, a CPS Energy employee on scene also suffered injuries in the second explosion. The employee was later treated and released.
SAFD officially extinguished the fire from the second explosion at approximately 11:59 p.m., NTSB said.
The gas main on Preston Hollow Drive
NTSB investigators described the gas distribution system on the street in great detail.
The system included a two-inch diameter “high-density polyethylene” underground gas main and a one-inch diameter “polyethylene service lines” that transport gas from the main to customers.
According to NTSB, the system had been operating at approximately nine pounds per square inch gauge at the time of the explosions — which is below the maximum operating pressure (33 pounds per square inch gauge).
The gas main and service lines were first installed in the area in 1993, the agency said.
CPS Energy’s investigation
Approximately 46 minutes after SAFD crews extinguished the first explosion, a CPS Energy employee located a leak in the service line at the home sandwiched in between the first house explosion and the second house explosion, investigators said.
However, CPS Energy was able to isolate the leak and plug the line at approximately 1:40 a.m. on April 22 — more than 90 minutes after firefighters extinguished the second house explosion and more than five hours total after the second house went up in flames.
The NTSB said the “leaking section of the service line and a section of the gas main” were sent to its lab for further testing.
The days after the blasts
NTSB investigators said they joined CPS Energy on scene of both homes on April 22 and April 23.
Following bar hole testing, CPS Energy said they found more gas underground near both homes as well as the home located in between. No other leaks were found in the gas main and service line linked to the first home, NTSB said.
In addition to CPS Energy and SAFD, the Texas Railroad Commission and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation also contributed to the investigation.
NTSB said its investigation is ongoing.
More recent coverage of the Preston Hollow Explosions on TheTXLoop:
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