Confirmed: Indiana Home Explosion Linked to Natural Gas

More than a week after a late-night blast leveled a Jeffersonville, Indiana home and left five people with life-threatening burns, investigators have confirmed that a natural gas leak inside the home was the cause of the explosion. Family members remember smelling gas moments before the explosion, but there was no time to react before flames consumed the house.

This tragedy is hauntingly familiar. In 2019, another home just a street away exploded under nearly identical circumstances, killing one person and injuring two others. Two catastrophic gas leaks in the same neighborhood within five years should be an undeniable warning that natural gas safety demands greater attention and urgency.

Natural gas alarms can detect leaks long before they reach explosive levels, giving families the precious minutes they need to evacuate. They are affordable and have proven to be effective, but in most states are still not required. It should not take another explosion for states to act on a solution we already know works.

Originally published by WLKY Louisville