Firefighters douse the front of the home with water that exploded Thursday morning on the corner of North State and Gordon streets in Girard. Area firefighters on the scene were Girard, Liberty, Weathersfield, McDonald and Hubbard. Staff photo / R. Michael Semple

GIRARD — A local couple are without a home and wondering about the welfare of their pets after a Thursday morning explosion damaged their house beyond repair.

Karlee Davis and her boyfriend, Kolton Ensine, say they have support and a place to sleep, and their two dogs are safe. But their house was knocked off its foundation by a 10 a.m. natural gas explosion, and they don’t know the status of their seven cats.

The house at 1018 N. State St. sits at the north corner of State Street and Gordon Street. Sources at the scene said a company was laying fiber optic lines along Gordon before the explosion.

Davis, a social worker at Mercy Health’s new behavioral health center on Belmont Avenue, said she received a call at work at 10:22 a.m. from her veterinarian after one of her dogs’ electronic ID tags was scanned by Girard Fire Department.

That’s when she learned there was a fire or explosion at the home, although the dogs were rescued.

Davis said she felt bad for the lady who called her from the vet’s office because it must have been difficult to have to deliver that news.

“Then I called someone from the fire department, and they said a gas line was hit and the side of my house exploded,” she said. “You would think I would know what to do in a situation like this but you don’t really know what to do when it happens to you.”

On Thursday morning, Davis and Ensine stood with their family out front of Marco’s Pizza on State Street, a few blocks up from the house. Ensine’s grandmother was keeping their dogs at her house.

At 3 p.m., Davis told The Vindicator that she was allowed closer to the house and emergency crews on scene placed a ladder up to one of the upstairs windows, and some of the cats could be heard inside the house, but would not come out.

Because the home is not structurally sound, nobody can go inside.

Bambi Betts, of Mecca, is a close family friend of Ensine’s, and calls the couple her “bonus children.” A former firefighter in northeast Trumbull County, and an insurance agent for Allstate, wrote the homeowner’s insurance policy for the house, and said she feels it’s most likely a total loss.

Mike Scoville, a city employee in the Water and Wastewater Department, said the blast happened about 30 minutes after the city received the call about the gas line damage.

He said he was standing at the corner with a police officer and two firefighters, waiting for Enbridge to come address the damaged gas line, when the south side of the house exploded, sending him and the other men sprawling.

By 1 p.m. the Ohio State Fire Marshal was on-site and the gas to the neighborhood had been shut off to eliminate any further risk to local homes and businesses.

OFFICIAL DETAILS

Girard Fire Chief Jim Petruzzi verified what Scoville said, and noted that one firefighter and a Girard police officer were taken to the hospital after the blast but have since been evaluated and released.

He said the house blew out from both sides and there was a considerable fire burning in the basement when first responders arrived.

“There was heavy fire in the basement when we arrived, but we were able to put it out from outside,” he said. “Due to the instability of the structure, we moved to a defensive approach and did everything we could from outside the house.”

Petruzzi said it seems likely that at least some of Davis and Ensine’s cats did not survive.

Petruzzi said that Lumos Networks has been installing fiber optic lines in the area.

“Their investigators and Enbridge’s investigators are working to pinpoint the actual cause of this. They will see if the boring happened in the correct place, and if things were parked correctly,” Petruzzi said. “Until the gas company digs up the road and sees the path that was taken, we don’t know. We cannot just point the finger at Lumos and place blame on them.”

He said the fire marshal and Public Utilities Commission of Ohio will work with Enbridge and Lumos to investigate the incident.

Petruzzi said city officials have met already with Lumos and Enbridge representatives.

“There will be a collaborative effort to see what steps are going to be taken to increase safety and investigate and determine the actual cause of this,” he said. “Immediately operations were ceased until we can figure out a safer plan moving forward, and that came directly from Lumos.

There is no definitive date of when anything will start back up again.”

Petruzzi said 47 homes are impacted by the gas outage and Enbridge will begin going door to door Thursday evening to relight gas appliances and check the homes’ lines for any leaks. Residents are explicitly warned not to attempt to relight their own appliances.

Petruzzi offered his thanks and commendations to his own staff, to Girard police, and the other communities who responded as part of the automatic mutual aid alarm – Liberty Township, Weathersfield Township, the Youngstown Air Reserve Base, McDonald Fire, and Hubbard’s Eagle Joint Fire District. Lane LifeTrans also responded.

COMMUNITY WARNINGS

In addition to leaving appliance restarts to the professionals, the mayor’s office issued an advisory about what residents should expect over the next 24 to 48 hours.

“Girard Fire Department is actively working with the Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency to explore relief and assistance options should evacuations extend into tomorrow. Fire personnel will continue to monitor the situation throughout the evening,” the statement reads.

Residents and those who travel through the city should be aware also that Southbound traffic on U.S. Route 422 (State Street) remains closed from Tibbetts Wick Road. to Churchill Road [state Route 304]. Northbound traffic from Churchill Tibbetts Wick remains open.

“Motorists are urged to use alternate routes and exercise extreme caution in the area.

This remains an active situation. Additional updates will be provided as more information becomes available.”