Nov 1, 2018 4 min read

After his Morgan Township house blew up, Cody White lifted collapsed and burning walls to get his 4-year-old son and girlfriend out.

“That’s probably how he got so burned,” Cody’s father, Mike White, said while choking back tears Thursday morning a day after the explosion. “He went back in. Thank God he’s a big guy.”

Cody, his girlfriend, Samantha Adamson, and their son, James, are all going to be OK, Mike said. All three were flown to UPMC-Mercy hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment of burns after the explosion about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday at the home at 153 Bowser Road.

Mike said Cody “lifted walls” to get the family out alive.

“When I heard they were Life-Flighted, this meant nothing,” Mike said, motioning to what was left of the Greene County house.

Adamson was not admitted to the hospital, but she stayed there with James, who was expected to be released Thursday, Mike said. It was not known how much longer Cody would remain hospitalized.

Mike and Cody’s mother, Lora White, also lived at the home. Lora said the last two days have been “hell,” but the most important thing is that her son and his family are going to be OK. Mike and Lora were both at work when the explosion happened.

“Cody was saying over the phone that the house was gone,” Mike said. “I said, ‘What do you mean it’s gone? If it’s on fire, call the fire department.’ But he said, ‘Dad, the house is in the basement.'”

Jefferson fire Chief Joe Petek said Wednesday that when Cody turned on a gas stove in the house, “the house blew up.” When Petek’s crews arrived at the home, the family was at a neighbor’s house.

Lora said her son kept apologizing to his parents.

“I told him he didn’t do anything wrong,” she said.

The suspected cause of the explosion is a gas leak, but the source of the leak is not known, according to Barry Kukovich, a spokesman for Peoples Natural Gas of Pittsburgh. He said there are multiple gas sources in the area from which it could have originated, such as the house line, Peoples’ main line, another gas company’s line, a storage gas well nearby, or even a nearby coal mine. He said there are several gas wells in the area.

The Whites’ house used Peoples gas. Kukovich said Peoples took samples of the gas at the site and will send them to a laboratory. It will take two to three days to get the results back, he said.

“The first thing we had to do was make sure the area is safe,” Kukovich said.

A second house, next door at 161 Bowser Road, was evacuated and taped off. Kukovich said there were “significant” and “dangerous” levels of gas in that house, as well. Peoples also will get gas samples from that property, he said, and the residents will be displaced for about a week.

“At least one person was living there and was asked to leave the home,” Kukovich said. “We’ve told them not to go into the house. If the

y need anything in the house, we will go in and get it for them.”

Kukovich said Peoples will continue to monitor the gas levels.

The investigation is ongoing, by the state fire marshal, the Pennsylvania Utility Commission, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and multiple gas companies.

Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, press secretary for the PUC, said their teams are working to determine the cause of the explosion and whether it’s the commission’s jurisdiction, and if there were “any violations of pipeline safety regulation.”

“These are complex incidents and require a great deal of work by engineers and experts before any conclusions can be made,” he said.

As the investigation continues, so will the family’s recovery. Several community members within Jefferson-Morgan School District have offered to help them with donations. Jefferson-Morgan Superintendent Joseph Orr said both Cody and Samantha graduated from the district.

“We feel for them, and we’ll be supportive in any way we can,” he said. “When they’re your past kids, they’re always your kids. Some of our teachers have already started to raise funds and supplies for the family.”