Cause still unknown in Warren house explosion

None of the walls or ceiling were left standing.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Investigators continued to pick through debris today in the aftermath of Saturday's house explosion that leveled 471 Oriole Place S.W. and damaged at least five more homes.
One 911 call Saturday morning came from a neighborhood near Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital from a man who said he thought an explosion had just occurred in his neighborhood. The explosion had actually occurred some 14 blocks away.
The 7:30 a.m. explosion, apparently caused by natural gas, caused the roof to travel skyward in two large pieces, over the two adjacent houses, and into the houses and yards on the other side.
It damaged at least five houses in addition to 471 Oriole, which was vacant at the time. Four of them are on either side of 471 Oriole and one is across the street, said Lt. Bill Monrean, who is in charge of the investigative unit for the Warren Fire Department.
No injuries were reported. Monrean said the cause of the blast is still not known.
"Until we interview some people, we don't know what happened," he said, adding that testing by Dominion East Ohio Gas will provide some clues, but that it can be difficult to identify a cause in such cases.
Neighborhood damage
"It was a rude awakening," said neighbor Deran Thomas, who lives four houses down from 471 Oriole.
Thomas said the home of Ellery and Alysia Reed, 461 Oriole S.W., next door to the explosion, received severe basement damage because a car parked in their driveway was blown into the foundation of the Reed residence. Two other vehicles there also were damaged.
The Reeds are also among two families that had to be moved out of their homes by the local chapter of the American Red Cross, Monrean said.
Unlike a natural gas explosion on May 31 on Mercer Street in the city, none of the Oriole Place walls or ceiling were left intact after Saturday's blast.
A front loader from R. Boccia Construction Co. of Niles was used Saturday to help firefighters move debris from the site for investigative purposes, Monrean said, but the home was otherwise already down.