Family’s suit alleges propane suppliers were negligent

YOUNGSTOWN — Family members who were badly burned when a propane explosion and fire leveled their Smith Township home nearly two years ago have filed a civil lawsuit accusing their propane suppliers of negligence.

Willard Woods and his wife, Megan, their son, Jake, who was 18 when the explosion occurred, and their daughter, Jenessa, who was then 16, filed their lawsuit Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

The lawsuit, which demands a jury trial and seeks more than $25,000 in damages, is assigned to Judge Lou A. D’Apolito.

Listed as defendants are Bayless Gas Inc. of Damascus, and its parent company, Inergy Propane LLC, of Kansas City, Mo., and employees, James and John Doe.

The suit says the employees, whose identities are unknown to the Woods family, delivered about 150 gallons of propane to a Bayless- owned exterior tank at the family’s West Pine Lake Road residence the day before the 4:30 a.m. Oct. 16, 2007, explosion and fire.

At the time of the delivery, the tank had been empty since March 2006, and the employees negligently failed to ascertain the tank’s safety; perform pressure tests on the gas lines from the tank to the dwelling and within the dwelling; test the home’s gas furnace and pilot light; and ascertain the presence of an odorant in the gas, which would have warned residents of a leak, according to the suit.

“Propane gas escaped from the pipe system and entered the dwelling” with the odorant depleted, the suit says. When Willard Woods lit a cigarette lighter, the gas ignited, causing “a catastrophic explosion and fire,” the suit says.

The state fire marshal’s office and local fire officials determined that propane caused the explosion. The Sebring, Beloit and Damascus fire departments responded to the blaze.

All four victims were flown by helicopter to the burn unit at Cleveland MetroHealth Center. Willard Woods, 44 at the time, was critically burned on his hands, arms, chest, face and ears. Megan, also then 44, suffered less-severe burns on her head and legs; and Jake and Janessa suffered minor burns to their feet, ankles and legs.

The modular home was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, and all that remained after the blaze was the basement.

A representative of Inergy’s legal department did not return a call seeking comment on the lawsuit.