Explosion at Woodbridge home prompts gas investigation

Gas crews are checking their lines in a Woodbridge neighborhood following an explosion inside a home Feb. 7.

On that day, fire and rescue crews were called to the 14000 block of Franklin Street for a report of the gas leak. Crews entered a home and smelled gas inside the structure, and were lucky enough to make it out unscathed before the house exploded.

Betsy, who declined to give her last name, had a 25-year-old firefighter son who was dispatched to what was originally reported as a house fire and possible outside gas leak. Emergency officials upgraded the call to an inside gas leak just before the house exploded, and just before Betsy’s son arrived.

“Firefighters rush into danger all the time, so I should’t be worried, right,” asked Betsy. “At least that’s what they tell me.” 

In the days following the incident, an investigation was launched into what happened at the home. Virginia’s State Corporation Commission, the Prince William County Fire Department, and utility provider Washington Gas are all involved, according to Gas spokesman Jim Monroe.

Monroe could not comment on whether or not gas crews were working in the area prior to the explosion. The outcome of the investigation will determine if the utility had any role in what led up to the explosion.

Today, and in the weeks following the explosion, Washington Gas have sprawled out along West Longview Drive, near where the explosion occurred. Tiny holes are drilled into the streets, and patches of newly poured asphalt cover up where gas crews have been working.

Monroe said an extensive check of its pipe network in the area has been ongoing in the days since the explosion. 

“We’re getting calls from neighbors asking what is going on, and why they checked the lines at a neighbors house and not theirs,” said Devon Cabot, a spokeswoman in the Richmond office of Sen. Jeremy McPike (Prince William County).

Those calls prompted a town hall meeting this Saturday at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center’s Hylton Education Campus, located at 2300 Opitz Boulevard in Woodbridge. From 10 to 11:30 a.m., Washington Gas, and McPike will hold a question and answer session to address concerns over why the gas company is in the area.

Betsy, who also lives in West Longview Drive, was passing out fliers Thursday with inofrmation baout the upcoming meeting.

“I need to know if this is something that could have been prevented, or if this is something that just happened,” she said.