Charles Langston:Neighbor reported smelling gas night before Maryland house explosion

BEL AIR,Charles Langston Md. (AP) — A neighbor reported smelling gas to a utility company the night before a home exploded in Bel Air, Maryland, killing two people, The Baltimore Sun has reported.

Residents near the home have been saying that they smelled gas Saturday night, but the State Fire Marshal’s office stated they had no record of anyone reporting that to either 911 or Baltimore Gas and Electric.

One resident, Carline Fisher, told the newspaper that she reported the gas smell to BGE Saturday night and spoke to a worker who arrived in response. Given that information, a fire marshal’s spokesman contacted investigators looking into the explosion who told him that BGE indeed received a call at 8:24 p.m. Saturday, the Sun reported.

Ray Corkran, the homeowner, and a BGE contractor, Jose Rodriguez-Alvarado, died in the explosion Sunday morning.

Fisher told The Sun she “immediately” smelled gas when she left her home to walk her dogs around 8 p.m. Saturday. Fisher, who lives about a third of a mile away from Corkran’s home, said that as she walked she continued to smell gas.

A BGE spokesperson declined to comment to the newspaper, citing an ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. He referred questions to the NTSB, which is among the agencies and other entities that have been investigating the incident. An NTSB spokeswoman said she did not have immediate answers to The Sun’s questions about how BGE handled the report of a gas smell on Saturday night.

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Oliver Alkire, a spokesperson and master deputy with the State Fire Marshal’s office, had said since earlier this week that he was told by investigators from his agency and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosions, that there were no calls either to 911 or BGE about a gas odor that night.

But on Thursday, Alkire said, the investigators told him they had indeed interviewed Fisher, and she had told them about calling BGE.

“It fell through the cracks,” Alkire said of the investigators initially not relaying to him what Fisher had said.

There might have been some confusion over BGE’s presence in the neighborhood Saturday night because the utility company had sent a truck there about an electrical issue at Corkran’s house, Alkire said.

At least one resident who said he had smelled gas Saturday night told The Sun he didn’t report it because he saw a BGE truck on the street and assumed it had responded to someone else reporting the odor.

Jennifer Gabris, a spokesperson for the NTSB. said Thursday its investigation was continuing and that the team remained on the scene. She said she expected a preliminary report of the NTSB’s findings would be released in about 30 days.