AUSTIN - The digging is underway at a North Austin home that exploded Monday morning.
“I was having breakfast and all of a sudden I just heard this boom and then I heard a second boom. My husband and we have a house guest and everybody, we all heard it, we were all like 'Woah, what is that?'” said neighbor Abigail Mahnkey.
Texas Gas Service crews are searching for the source of a gas leak that sparked the fatal blast. Crews want to find the leak and repair it before turning gas back on. Until then, some 15 homes remain evacuated.
Around 9 a.m. Tuesday, the heavy equipment was brought out and crews started digging into the charred yard of the burned out home.
Firefighters found the body of one man at the house on the front porch. They believe it’s the homeowner, Renald Ferro-Vecchio. Neighbors say he had been complaining of a gas odor at his home for several weeks.
According Sylvia Arzola of the City of Austin’s permit office, no permits for repairs had been requested.
Firefighters say a gas leak could have easily ignited with the flip of a light switch or a simple cell phone call. Once it lit, they had to let it burn out on its own.
“It does no good to put it out, because then it literally can light back up again somewhere else and we don’t want that. It can go to the house next door, find a pilot light and then light off. We can’t see where the gas is,” explained AFD Captain Matt Cox.
Neighbors say Ferro-Vecchio lived by himself but had an 8-year-old boy. They say he usually left for work around 8:30 a.m., the same time the explosion went off on Monday.
The Austin Fire Department is leading this investigation. Meanwhile, Lori Moreno of Texas Gas Service says it's focusing on finding the leak. The company is paying for the hotel accommodations for the residents in the 15 homes on Payne Avenue which are still without gas service.
All other homes which temporarily lost gas service on Monday have service again or crews are in the process of restoring the service.
