Explosion rattled neighborhood

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GIRARD - Shirley Pape was sitting in her Washington Avenue living room when an explosion at the house sent her reeling.

''It was the loudest thing I ever heard,'' Pape said. ''Our front door blew open, and I fell back, throwing the sandwiches I had in my hand into the air and all over me.''

She said she ran outside to see what had happened.

''The house across the street was gone,'' she said. "The fire in the other house was just starting. It went pretty quick."

Officials were hoping to have nailed down by now the cause of an explosion that leveled 824 Washington Ave. Thursday evening and damaged more than 30 surrounding homes.

''So far, everything is strictly preliminary,'' fire Chief Ken Bornemiss said Friday. ''We - the state fire marshal and Dominion East Ohio Gas investigative team - are looking for an origin and a cause.''

Firefighters still were turning over debris and battling down smoldering flames.

Neighbors were walking up and down the older west side neighborhood, still in shock that the explosion was so powerful that homes and garages were moved from their foundations.

Most were just glad that none of their friends were killed.

The neighboring house, 820 Washington Ave., was burned by a fire caused by the explosion. Denise and Robin Seitz, and their children, Isaiah Mann, 12, and Michael DiVencenzo, 13, lived there. Neighbors pulled Denise and her mother-in-law, Phyllis, out of the house.

The Seitzes were treated for some minor injuries at St. Elizabeth Health Center and are staying with relatives, Bornemiss said.

''We have not determined the extent of damage,'' Bornemiss said. ''I just found out about another structure that was damaged about a half mile away from here.''

Many of the homes had windows and doors broken.

Bornemiss said the department received the call about the explosion and fire at about 6:18 p.m. and arrived at the scene at about 6:26 p.m.

"There was a lot of traffic on the road and people had come out of their homes to find out what caused the explosion," Bornemiss said. "That slowed us down as far as getting in front of the house."

Mayor James Melfi said the 911 Center was inundated with calls from people wanting to know what happened. It took awhile before the center received a call that told them where the explosion had taken place, he said.

Phillip and Heather Walter, 908 Washington Ave., were at the Girard-Hubbard volleyball game at the time of the explosion. Phillip Walter is a Girard coach.

''I learned about the explosion and fire during the game,'' he said.

It was not until they arrived home that the Walters' discovered their home also was damaged.

''We have cracks in our walls that go from the front of the house to its rear,'' Heather Walter said. ''Our stained glass and some other windows were broken.''

The door of their garage was bent in several locations and glass and wood debris is in their backyard swimming pool.

Kenny Moran, 54, 914 Washington Ave., was shopping when he felt the building shake.

''Just as I got in line to get out of the store, someone came in from the outside saying that a house blew up on Washington,'' Moran said. ''I said, 'Oh my God,' got into my car and drove like a maniac.''

Before running to his home, Moran ran to check on several older neighbors.

"We're like a family in this neighborhood," he said. "I wanted to make sure my neighbors were okay."

Amanda Miller and her husband, Joseph, were out eating dinner, but her aunt and a young daughter were at the house.

"We got four windows knocked out. There are cracks in the walls and the ceiling, and the foundation was shifted," Miller said. "I don't know what we are going to do. It is so close to winter and I have small children."

Karen Lacerva, 156 Churchill Road, lives two houses behind and to the east of the home that exploded.

"I was sitting in my living room and my husband was in the kitchen when we heard this horrendous explosion," Lacerva said. "I ducked because I thought something had happened in my house. I thought our house was going to blow up

"Our doors were all sucked in," she said. "Our sliding doors were off track, windows were busted, and there were cracks in the ceiling. Our garage is going to have to be torn down and rebuilt. It's a total disaster."

While she does not know what caused the explosion, Lacerva said Dominion East Ohio employees were at the house.

"Three hours later, the house was blown up," she said. "At least no one was hurt, just scared to death."

However, Neil Durbin, a spokesman with Dominion East Ohio Gas said his records indicate the last time any of the company's employees were on the property was in January 2007.

William Snowden, who had just purchased his house about three month earlier, was lying in his bed watching the news on television at the time of the explosion. Glass from his two bedroom windows imploded into the bed on top of him.

"I thought a jet had crashed," Snowden said. "It felt like it lifted my whole house up and sat it back down."

Snowden ran over to the house, just when several other men were carrying two women out of the house.

"Soon as they got them out, the flames were shooting out of the house," Snowden said.

Frank Thomas, 79, who lives approximately six houses east of the initial explosion, said the two dogs that died in 820 Washington Ave., Chloe and Runaway, were two of the the friendliest animals he has ever known.

Donations to a fund for the Seitz family can be made at any National City Bank branch.

rsmith@tribtoday.com