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May 19, 2008 5:10 pm US/Central
McKinney FD Chief Reveals New Details On Explosion
McKINNEY (CBS 11 News) ―
Three people were still in the hospital Monday afternoon following Friday's gas line explosion in a McKinney neighborhood.
Officials at Parkland Hospital upgraded Raul Moreno's condition from critical to serious. Officials say the 27-year-old received burns on 20-percent of his body, including his upper torso, face, arms and hands.
Arthur Bryson, 76, and Nancy Foster remained in critical condition at Parkland hospital. Bryson was sitting on a chair when the explosion occurred.
With each day that passes, there appear to be more questions about how the explosion on the 600 block of Fenet Street happened in the first place.
McKinney Fire Chief Mark Wallace said contractors from M.J. Sheridan were moving a gas line for Atmos Energy hit the gas line and six minutes later there was an explosion. However, neighbors report smelling gas thirty to forty-five minutes before.
Chief Wallace said gas seeped into a sewer line and then into the house. There, it could have been lit by an ignition source such as a pilot light on a water heater or a candle.
Chief Wallace also gave the first glimpse of a timeline Monday.
Three citizen 911 calls were made at 5:39 p.m. Friday, just after the first two explosions. No one, including the subcontractors, called 911 to report the gas smell or the broken line before the this time, said Chief Wallace.
Emergency crews were dispatched at 5:40 p.m. and arrived on the scene at 5:43.
The third explosion took place at 5:46 p.m.
Authorities are still trying to determine the time frame. Officials at both Atmos and M. J. Sheridan, the company the contractors work directly for, say they will have some of those answers Tuesday.
Families of the victims say they are angry and frustrated.
"This could have been stopped. Somebody should have had time to say let's stop and call the fire department," said Sherri Foster, Nancy Foster's daughter.
The victims' families want to know why the gas wasn't turned off before workers began moving the line. Why the workers, subcontractors for Atmos Energy, didn't notify neighbors that the line was broken. And why no one called 911 before the explosion.
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