RE: Rustic Ridge Lawsuit – Nitric Acid Pitting to Bob Donnan Aug 26, 2025, by D.S., an expert regarding the lawsuits:
“The good folks in your network should know the following in case they get challenged on their knowledge, resources & experience.
One might say that nitric acid isn’t a problem because the transfer pipe & annulus of a Marcellus Well uses a correct grade of steel, API 5L /P1- P2 (corrosive delivery conditions) & there’s no oxygen to create a corrosive wetted surface inside the pipe. True, unless the condensate & flow-back contains even small amounts of radium & barium chloride. Additionally, during many of a Marcellus Well construction, trained eyes with pocket magnets, determined much of the Marcellus Gas transfer pipe is made of substandard steel. (India) “IPI 5L Pipe”?
Nitrogen will lower the pH of the saturated gas in the transfer pipe, creating an environment where barium & radium chloride (paleozoic brines) will have a logarithmic effect on the disassociation rate of the the pipes’ refined alloy, especially nickel & chrome. The National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) defines this as “pipe pitting”. – Millimeters-per-year equated to the weight loss of insitu-corrosion tab stubs.
Rate of pitting is also quantified by in-line real time trend analysis measurement of the gas blend, including its’ Oxidation-Reduction Potential (ORP) Marcellus Brines accelerate the pitting rate of the well’s pipe casing. Premature “thru-pitting” damages the casing & then the inside of the pipe has an outside oxygen source. This will increase the pipe’s corrosion rate to a degree that’s not (economically) manageable.
Thermogenic Runaway followed by a Marcellus Well Collapse!”
D.S.
Excellent news clip at link:
Families of Plum house explosion victims file lawsuits citing 4 companies for cause by Andy Sheehan, July 22, 2025, CBS News
Nearly two years since the massive explosion that leveled homes in Plum’s Rustic Ridge and killed six people, the cause of the tragedy has remained enveloped in mystery.
The Allegheny County Fire Marshal’s Office has yet to determine a cause of the blast on Aug. 12, 2023. But on Tuesday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, the families of those victims filed separate suits, alleging the explosion was the result of a build-up of methane escaping from a ruptured line nearby.
“You want to know how, when, why. Why my family? Why my mom and dad? Why my neighbors, my friends? It’s a whole community back there. That little part of the neighborhood, we were all family,” said Taylor Oravitz, the daughter of victims Paul and Heather Oravitz.
Rustic Ridge Complaint by KDKA Digital Team on Scribd
Plum home explosion lawsuit
The explosion leveled three homes and claimed the lives of Paul and Heather Oravitz, Casey and Keegan Clontz, Kevin Sebunia, and Michael Thomas.
Their families accuse four companies — Penneco Oil and Gas, Peoples Natural Gas, the A.O. Smith Corporation and Grasinger Homes — of negligence for failing to foresee the likelihood of an explosion and failing to take action to prevent it.
“That hole’s never going to be fixed. It’s never going to be replaced, but it’s just trying to mend it as best we can,” Taylor Oravitz told KDKA on Tuesday.
The attorneys for the families of the victims believe they know who is responsible.
They claim it was a natural gas line operated by Penneco running from wells and a nearby compressor station, which was located behind the house. According to the court filing, pressure in the line had been building for months and began escaping from a rupture.
The suit alleges the gas migrated through the ground, filled the Oravitz’s family home at 141 Rustic Ridge Drive, and caused the explosion — even though the state Department of Environmental Protection discounted that theory, calling the opening a pinhole. 
DEP are know liars and oil and gas industry crime enablers, so is Gov Josh Shapiro who betrayed the many industry’s leaking methane harmed families in Dimock.
“This was not a pinhole leak,” Dominic Guerrini of the Kline and Specter law firm. “This was a massive, massive hole in that pipeline, and that’s why we’re here.”
The suit names Penneco and the utility Peoples Natural Gas as defendants, saying both knew about the pressure build-up but neither took action to vent the line or replace a faulty regulator. And they believe a chain of missteps failed to prevent the tragedy.
On the morning of the day of the explosion, Casey and Keegan Clontz came to the house to look at the water heater, which had been making strange noises. The court papers say the noises were caused by the external gas building up in the basement, which caused the blast.
The suit names manufacturer A.O. Smith Corporation for not issuing a warning to purchasers, and the families are also suing developers Grasinger Homes for building so close to gas lines.
The Oravitzs and Clontzs were killed in the explosion, as were nearby neighbors Sebunia and Thomas.
“At multiple different points along the way, steps could have been taken to have prevented this incident and prevented the deaths of these six people,” said Benjamin Baer, who represents Cole and Taylor Oravitz, the son and daughter of Paul and Heather Oravitz.
Responding to the filings, Penneco denied the claim, stating, “We believe the statements in the lawsuit misstate the facts and will show in court we do not have any culpability in this event.”
In a similar vein, Peoples Natural Gas denied responsibility, noting that the Pennsylvania Utility Commission “found no evidence linking Peoples’ public utility infrastructure to the cause of the incident.”
“The safety of our customers, employees, and the communities we serve remains our top priority. When this event occurred, Peoples immediately worked with the authorities to assist in the investigation to determine what happened,” the statement added, in part.
KDKA also reached out to the A.O. Smith Corporation and Grasinger Homes for comment, but they have not responded as of Tuesday evening.
“These were neighbors who were banding together to help one another, and they paid with their lives,” Guerrini said. “And it’s been a long time since this happened, and it’s important that justice is served and the parties who are responsible for this compensate the victims.”
What comes next?
Now that the suits have been filed, all parties will be engaged in a lengthy discovery process before a trial is set. The families are alleging negligence and seeking damages for pain and suffering.
Fire crews respond to house explosion in Plum by Taylor Hall, WPXI.com, April 23, 2022
PLUM, Pa. — Crews responded to a house explosion in Plum late Friday night.
PHOTOS: Fire crews respond to house explosion in Plum
The house was located in the 5000 block of Hialeah Drive. Pieces of the house are now scattered all across the property.
Officials at the scene told 11 News the two adults and three children in the house made it out safely. They were sleeping just before the explosion.
Four patients were taken to Forbes Hospital in Monroeville. One of the children in the house was flown to Mercy Hospital to be treated for burns All of them are expected to be okay.
The fire marshal is investigating the cause of the explosion.
Angels In Da Skys, a non-profit in Plum, is collecting donations for the family. Right now, they are in need of cash, gift cards and new clothes.
Sizes needed are:
- Boy #1: sizes 10-12 in kid’s, 2.5-3 in kid’s shoes
- Boy #2: sizes 6-7 in kid’s, size 13 in kid’s shoes
- Boy #3: size 2t, size 2 in shoes
- Father: size large in pants and shirts, size 10.5-11 in men’s shoes
- Mother: size medium in shirts, size 3 in pants, size 6 in shoes
If you’d like to donate to this family in need, call (412)798-6353.
Plum has history of house explosions by Brian C. Rittmeyer, Aug. 12, 2023
A house exploded in Plum late Saturday morning, killing four people and injuring several others. Authorities announced the revised death toll at a press conference…
There have been at least two previous house explosions in Plum since 2008, both in the Holiday Park neighborhood.
The most recent was April 22, 2022, at 5021 Hialeah Drive. A couple and their three sons who lived there survived.
As of September, the cause of the explosion had not been released.
Matt Brown, chief of the Allegheny County Department of Emergency Services, said in an email Saturday that the investigation has been lengthy because of forensic testing of natural gas lines and appliances and follow-up interviews. He said all of that requires extensive planning and coordination.
A March 2008 house explosion on Mardi Gras Drive was eerily similar in its destruction to Saturday’s incident on Rustic Ridge Drive.
In that incident, when the house at 171 Mardi Gras exploded, two others were destroyed and 11 were damaged.
A grandfather, Richard Leith, 64, of Trafford, was killed and his granddaughter, Gianna, then 4, suffered a broken leg.
A National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that a 2-inch natural gas distribution pipeline had been hit by a backhoe when a sewer line was replaced five years prior in 2003, stripping the pipeline of its protective coating and making it susceptible to corrosion and failure.
Holiday Park fire Chief James Sims said he has responded to six house explosions in Plum in his decades as a firefighter.
He called Saturday’s on Rustic Ridge Drive “the worst I have even seen.”
Brian C. Rittmeyer is a TribLive reporter covering news in New Kensington, Arnold and Plum. A Pittsburgh native and graduate of Penn State University, Brian has been with the Trib since December 2000. He can be reached at email hidden; JavaScript is required.
Homeowners were having issues with hot water tank before deadly blast in Pennsylvania, officials say by apnews, August 15, 2023
PLUM, Pa. (AP) — The owners of a home that exploded in western Pennsylvania last weekend were having issues with their hot water tankSame blame the hot water tank game was played by officials in Firestone, Weld Co., Colorado after industry’s leaking gas destroyed a home and killed 3. In Ohio, an industry’s migrating methane caused fatal home explosion was blamed on bacteria before officials had even begun their investigation, same as what officials did in Alberta in response to numerous industrial methane contaminated homes and water supplies in frac fields! The leaky oil and gas industry’s enablers are not very good at fairy tales, authorities said, but the cause of the blast that killed five people — including two municipal officials — remains under investigation.
The explosion in Plum destroyed three structures and damaged at least a dozen others. It occurred shortly before 10:30 a.m. Saturday at a home owned by Heather Oravitz, the town’s community development director, and her husband. The town is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh.
Plum Mayor Harry Schlegel said Oravitz, 51, and Plum Borough Manager Michael Thomas, 57, were killed in the blast, along with three others who lived in the neighborhood: Kevin Sebunia, 55; Casey Clontz, 38; and Clontz’s 12-year-old son, Keegan.
Oravitz’s husband, Paul, suffered severe burns over most of his body and remained hospitalized Tuesday in critical condition, Schlegel said. Two others injured in the blast were treated at a hospital and released.
Emergency responders said people were trapped under debris when they arrived to the scene. County spokesperson Amie Downs said the blast leveled one house and two others were on fire. Fifty-seven firefighters were treated at the scene for minor issues, an Allegheny County official said.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation by the Allegheny County fire marshal’s office, along with local law enforcement, with officials warning that the process would be careful and would take time.
The fire marshal’s office said in a statement Monday that it was aware of the reported hot water tank issues. The agency planned to investigate the cause of the blast, with the hot water tank issue in mind, and “along with any and all other possibilities,” the statement said.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the development is on abandoned mine land surrounded by shallow still-producing or abandoned oil and gas wells. Two producing gas wells are within about 1000 feet (305 meters) of the home that exploded and a pipeline runs behind the development, but none of those structures have been identified as having been involved in the blast, the newspaper reported.
Michael Huwar, president of Peoples Gas, said official checks by the company indicated that “our system was operating as designed.”Ya, cheap as possible to maximize profits and greed as much as possible, and to leak all over the place just like every oil and gas company everywhere. They and their enablers do not care how many of us live in risk of blowing up, or die blowing up, they just care about how cheapest and quickest to blame the harmed, defame and denigrate the harmed, and get back to raping profits; they also do not give a damn that their leaking methane is destroying earth’s livable climate.
The state Public Utility Commission said Tuesday that it has been monitoring integrity tests of nearby lines by the utility and interviewing utility employees, first responders and residents as well as coordinating the collection of evidence at the scene “including natural gas service lines and meters.”
A county spokesperson said Tuesday that electrical service was restored by Sunday afternoon to all homes other than the three that were destroyed, and gas service had been restored to all homes except the loop where the blast occurred and two spur roads.
6th person dies following Pittsburgh area house explosion, cause of blast still unknown by CBS PITTSBURGH, August 16th 2023
PLUM, Pa. (KDKA) — A sixth person died after a house exploded in Plum borough’s Rustic Ridge community exploded.
Three nearby homes were destroyed and a dozen other homes were damaged in the blast on Saturday.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Officer identified the first five victims as 38-year-old Casey Clontz, 12-year-old Keegan Clontz, 51-year-old Heather Oravitz, 55-year-old Kevin Sebunia and 57-year-old Michael Thomas. The sixth victim, identified as 56-year-old Paul Oravitz, died on Wednesday at UPMC Mercy.
Emily Sebunia said her dad, Kevin Sebunia, was one of the those killed. She said he was always one to lend a hand whenever anyone needed help without ever expecting anything in return. She believes her dad was most likely doing just that when he died.
Casey Clontz and his 12-year-old son, Keegan, loved hunting and fishing, and the family said the 12-year-old was his father’s shadow.
Thomas and Oravitz worked for Plum Borough. Thomas was the borough manager and Oravitz was the community development director. County records said they were both neighbors. Now both their houses are gone. Records said Oravitz lived in the house that exploded.
“This is certainly a sad day and sad time not just for the folks in Plum but all the folks in the community and in this region,” Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said.
The blast sent shockwaves through the area, with nearby windows and doors blown off when the home along Rustic Ridge Drive exploded. It didn’t take long before the two homes on both sides also caught fire.
Plum Borough Police Chief Lanny Conley said three other people were taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries. Two of those individuals have been released from the hospital while one remains in critical condition.
Chief Conley said that 57 firefighters were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
Peoples Gas President Michael Huwar said over the weekend that crews immediately began checking the area for leakage, including smell checks and checks underground and in the air, and said that early reports show that the system was operating as designed.leaky as all hell
Following the explosion, utilities were shut off due to safety concerns, but electricity has been restored to all but the immediate area surrounding the blast.
Any resident who has questions about gas service in the neighborhood can find updates here.
On Sunday night, an officer monitoring the site noticed that a hotspot had begun smoking. Fire crews arrived and spent an hour spraying down the debris.
The Allegheny County Fire Marshal’s Office is leading the investigation into the cause and origin of the fire and explosion and the process is expected to take some time.
Allegheny County officials say that the investigation could take months or even years.It takes time to figure out how best to blame the harmed.
“This investigation may last for months if not years so please keep that in mind. It’s a slow process,” Allegheny County Emergency Service Deputy Director Steve Imbarlina said.
In a release late Monday, the county said the home where the explosion happened was having “hot water tank issues.” The tank was in the basement.Same blame the harmed and their water tank story as intially in Firestone, Weld Co., Colorado fatal home explosion (caused by leaking industry gas).
“ACFM will investigate that information along with any and all other possibilities during their processes that may explain what occurred,” the release said.
Crews spent Monday going through the rubble. Heavy equipment went through the destroyed houses before the rain moved in. Crews with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Allegheny County offices, and utility crews investigated.
“In the meantime, we are bringing all of our resources to bear to help the Allegheny County fire marshal,” Peoples Gas President Mike Huwar said.
To this point, there are holds on the three destroyed properties. This means nothing will be done to them, and any demolition would have to be approved by the borough.
Underground mines are unlikely to blame for a deadly house explosion in Pennsylvania, state says by apnews, August 18, 2023
It is unlikely that natural gas seeped from an abandoned underground mine and caused a house explosion in western Pennsylvania last weekend that killed six people, state officials said Friday.
The state Department of Environmental Protection said its inspectors studied the coal seam in the area and found no shafts or bore holes near the house that exploded. The agency did not say how far around the house the inspectors searched, but a department statement said they “determined the likelihood of an abandoned mine-related gas issue to be very low.”
The blast destroyed three structures and damaged at least a dozen others. The cause remains under investigation. The development where the blast occurred is in the town of Plum, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh.
It is on abandoned mine land surrounded by shallow oil and gas wells, some of which are producing gas and some of which have been abandoned. Authorities have said that the homeowners were having problems with their hot water tank and that was part of the investigation. The department is looking for sources of combustible natural gas near the explosion site and is inspecting nearby natural gas-related equipment and sites. It said inspectors are taking daily readings for gases in the soil or in structures around the development. Potential methane sources include landfills, sewer lines, wells, pipelines and coal mines, it said.
PUC Safety Division Provides Update on Investigation into Deadly House Explosion in Plum Borough, Allegheny County Press Release, Aug 29, 2023
Note: The following information is preliminary and may be supplemented or corrected as the investigation continues.
HARRISBURG – The investigation of a deadly August 12th house explosion in Plum Borough, Allegheny County, by the Safety Division of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) remains active and ongoing, exploring whether public utility infrastructure or operations contributed to the cause and circumstances surrounding this tragic incident.
Plum Investigation Overview
Pipeline safety engineers from the Safety Division, which is part of the PUC’s independent Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement (I&E), responded to the scene of a reported explosion and house fire at 141 Rustic Ridge Drive in Plum and have continued to gather evidence, analyze data, and monitor testing to determine whether there are any violations of state or federal pipeline safety regulations.
To date, the ongoing Safety Division investigation has included the following:
- Interviewing residents, first responders, Peoples Gas employees and others who witnessed the incident or have relevant information.
- Monitoring testing by Peoples Gas of natural gas mains, service lines and other public utility facilities in the Rustic Ridge Drive neighborhood, including:
- Pressure testing of utility systems.
- Leak surveys and other testing for natural gas readings.
- Odor level testing in the Peoples Gas system.
- The gathering of gas samples for laboratory analysis.
- Purging the Peoples Gas natural gas system before placing it back into service.
- Geophysical testing around the incident site being conducted for Peoples Gas by a third-party expert.with bias favouring industry no matter how many blow up and die in their homes?
- Working with the fire marshal to access the incident site to identify and recover the gas meter, regulator, service lines and other public utility systems.
- Observing the pressure testing of a PENNECO Oil Company production line behind the incident site and the performance of leak surveys by PENNECO.
Additionally, safety engineers have closely monitored the safe restoration of electric and natural gas service to undamaged homes in the neighborhood. This includes observation of Peoples Gas personnel performing service restoration for customers whose service was shut off because of the incident; testing of valves on service lines and abandon services for structures around the incident site that were damaged and/or condemned; and continued safety checks by Peoples Gas in the Rustic Ridge neighborhood.
Moving forward, the Safety Division continues to review operator records and maps of public utility facilities around the incident site and remains in close communication with the Allegheny County Fire Marshal, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Peoples Gas and other entities involved in the investigation of this incident.
PUC Safety Division Jurisdiction and Investigations
It is important to note that I&E investigations are limited – by regulation – to the involvement of, or impact from, utilities and utility systems under the jurisdiction of the PUC, along with natural gas transported by those assets. I&E does not have jurisdiction to investigate items, events, or piping beyond the outlet of a service meter within a structure – and the interior, non-jurisdictional, assets involved in incidents are the subject of investigation by other parties and agencies outside the PUC.
The Safety Division recognizes the strong public interest in these types of incidents, especially for those who have been directly impacted, and works to address safety concerns in a timely matter. Still, it is important to understand that these are complex circumstances which may require extensive analyses by engineers and other experts, along with laboratory testing and other technical study before conclusions can be reached.
Any determinations and/or actions are based on that information, within the scope of the PUC’s jurisdiction, and any safety concerns identified by investigators are addressed promptly with regulated pipeline operators and/or utilities. While the full investigation by the Safety Division may take up to a year or longer to reach any conclusions, I&E will not hesitate to take immediate action to address health or public safety concerns that are identified.
The Safety Division appreciates the cooperation of Plum Borough and Allegheny County, along with various other local and state emergency agencies who have been part of the investigation, as well as residents and others impacted by this incident.
About the Bureau of Investigation & Enforcement
Engineers from the Safety Division are in the field daily, conducting inspections of utility construction, operations, and integrity management activities. They also investigate issues discovered during their inspections, along with incidents reported by utility operators and emergency response agencies.
I&E, as the independent investigation and enforcement bureau of the PUC, enforces state and federal pipeline safety and motor carrier safety laws and regulations and represents the public interest in ratemaking and service matters before the PUC’s Office of Administrative Law Judge. I&E has the authority to bring enforcement action, seek emergency orders from the Commission or take other steps to enforce safety regulations and promote public safety.
# # #
Contact:
- Nils Hagen-Frederiksen
Press Secretary
717-418-2701
email hidden; JavaScript is required
Investigators pinpoint house as source of explosion that killed 6 near Pittsburgh last month by apnews, September 8, 2023
Investigators said Friday the location of an explosion that killed six people and destroyed three houses near Pittsburgh last month was inside one of the homes, ruling out an outside cause. The Allegheny County fire marshal’s office said all potential outside factors were eliminated, including wells, pipelines and other utilities, pinpointing the source as a home on Rustic Ridge Drive in Plum Borough. The cause of the explosion remains under investigation, the office said, and there is no time frame for when the probe will be completed. The investigation at the scene of the explosion has been completed and the property is being returned to its owners, the agency said in a release. That house and two others were so badly damaged they must be demolished, and 10 others were not safe for residents in the weeks after the Aug. 12 blast about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh. All of the victims were found at the home. Officials have said one was found outside a garage, four were in the basement and the sixth was located and rescued from the rear yard. He was taken to a trauma center where he died several days later. State officials had previously ruled out natural gas from an abandoned underground mine as a cause. Authorities have also said the home’s owners had been having problems with their hot water tank.
Shapiro Administration Provides Additional Updates On Plum Stray Gas Investigation DEP Releases Preliminary Test Results Relating To House Explosion In Rustic Ridge Press Release by DEP Press Team, email hidden; JavaScript is required, Sept 8, 2023
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has completed its analysis of preliminary test results from its stray gas investigation relating to the house explosion in the Rustic Ridge neighborhood of Plum Borough in Allegheny County. Preliminary results are not indicative of a stray gas migration incident. Under the Governor’s directionAfter Shapiro’s horrific betrayal of the many frac harmed home owners in Dimock PA with dangerous gas contamination in their drinking water caused by greed and sloth by Cabot Oil and Gas (name ridiculously changed to Coterra), I trust nothing Shapiro of his office says anymore, on Monday morning, August 14, 2023, in coordination with local and County authorities, DEP inspectors began conducting a stray gas investigation at the incident site to look for sources of combustible gas near the structure, and inspected nearby natural gas-related facilities and infrastructure under DEP’s jurisdiction.What about fracs and related facilities, wells, etc, further away?
DEP inspectors found detectible concentrations of combustible gas throughout this area on August 14, but that gas is no longer detectible throughout soils near the incident. Isotopic samples, which help to identify molecular signatures, were collected by DEP and Peoples Natural Gas (PNG) on August 14 from soils and a nearby PNG gas meter. A total of 18 points of interest were investigated. Gas samples were collected from 5 of those locations for isotopic analysis.
Those locations include the area around a leaking gas pipeline, gas in the soil near a Peoples meter, and under the foundation of the home. Preliminary results are not indicative of a stray gas migration incident. The findings suggest that concentrations of gas detected on August 14 came from single inundation event, likely the explosion itself. Suggest? Or blamed so with this press release?
In addition, DEP identified a total of seven conventional oil and gas wells and two gathering pipelines within a 2,500 ft radius of the home. That’s a tiny area to study for such a serious and deadly explosion, and intentionally will not find area leaker(s) or bad fracs leaking gases to surface. Regulators and companies learning from every fatal explosion they cause to cleverly avoid finding the leakers.
DEP inspected those wells and pipelines immediately following the incident and determined that they were all in compliance. Being in compliance does not mean they were not leaking, or that frac’ing in the area or much further away caused gases to leak to surface, and into the home(s) that exploded. Many studies and reports have proven industry’s gases can leak and migrate for miles, causing h0me and business explosions.
One of the two pipelines, a suction line to a compressor station, was known to be leaking, but had been taken out of commission one week prior to the incident.
The other pipeline, a gathering line which ties into the suction line, was taken out of service immediately after the incident out of an abundance of caution.
That gathering line passed a pressure test on August 15 with no leaks detected. Sure, after related companies fixed their leaks and cleaned up.
Out of an abundance of caution, on August 25, DEP worked to facilitate the distribution of combustible gas detectors to the 227 houses in the Rustic Ridge neighborhood.
DEP estimates that around 90% of the units were picked up for the houses in the community, and remaining residents will be contacted by the Rustic Ridge homeowner’s association to secure their detectors should they want them.
The Shapiro Administration also collaborated with Allegheny County to provide support to residents at a multi-agency resource centerOpens In A New Window held at the Plum Borough Municipal Complex Gymnasium. County, state, and federal agencies helped impacted homeowners with services such as license replacements from PennDOT and assistance with insurance carriers through the PA Department of Insurance.
A week after fatal house explosion, Plum community seeks the will to push forward by Rob Amen, Aug. 20, 2023, TribLIVE
The idyllic innocence of Rustic Ridge shattered a week ago.
Tragedy struck this close-knit community in Plum, a neighborhood of more than 200 homes, about 10:23 a.m. last Saturday. An explosion leveled a home on Rustic Ridge Drive and resulted in an inferno that destroyed two neighboring homes.
The shock wave of the blast damaged a dozen others — some beyond repair.
The toll is immense.
Six people died: Paul and Heather Oravitz, husband and wife who lived at 141 Rustic Ridge; Casey and Keegan Clontz, father and son who lived around the corner on Brookside Drive; Michael Thomas, who lived at 139 Rustic Ridge; and Kevin Sebunia, who lived at 135 Rustic Ridge.
At least two other residents were injured, as were almost 60 firefighters who battled the quickly moving blaze from the explosion site at 141 Rustic Ridge to the fires that engulfed the Thomas home and one at 143 Rustic Ridge, owned by Harrison and Kelly Smith.
This quiet community will never be the same.
Every resident the Tribune-Review spoke with over the past seven days acknowledged as much.
It could take years before Rustic Ridge recovers — if it ever really does.
Yet, amid the heartbreak, there remains a resilience.
Rallying together
A week ago, Greg Renko ran down his street toward a leveled home and, with the help of neighbor George Emanuele, pulled Paul Oravitz from a pile of rubble to safety.
In the moments immediately following the explosion, Renko — an officer with the Allegheny County Police homicide unit who was home at the time — was seen running between houses, working with first responders, doing whatever he could.
He hasn’t stopped since.
Renko is the president of the Rustic Ridge homeowners association. He and the rest of the board — as well as a number of neighbors who live in the immediate vicinity and just outside of it within the subdivision — have taken the lead in trying to pull the community forward.
Their determination is relentless.
Renko called it a “humbling responsibility.”
“I think we will rally together, rally around the families directly involved,” he said this week. “I’m constantly proud to say I’m from Rustic Ridge, but also Plum.”
Rally they have, as difficult as it has been.
The Plum community at large has wrapped its arms around Rustic Ridge, but so too have surrounding communities and businesses.
The Allegheny County Police partnered with Party Savvy to erect a large tent at Ridgetop Park at the end of Ridgetop Drive. The tent, tables and seats for 100 people will stay until the people of Rustic Ridge say they no longer need them.
Car dealer #1 Cochran has covered the cost of various food trucks and restaurants that have provided meals, including but not limited to Mission BBQ, Olive Garden, Big Lou’s, Elegant Catering and Let’s Taco.
In surrounding subdivisions, kids raised money through lemonade stands.
In The Highlands, about 20 kids sold lemonade and baked goods — and raised almost $1,200 that they gave to the Rustic Ridge HOA. In Holiday Park, Ava Gribbin sold lemonade and iced tea outside her home and made $745 in four hours. She gave all proceeds to Angels in DaSkys, a Plum-based nonprofit that helps families in need.
Renton Volunteer Fire Department served as the staging area for collecting relief items. Mountains of bottled water, food and snacks piled up at the fire department in the days after the explosion.
Plum Borough School District, the University of Pittsburgh MAPS program, Alliance of Therapy Dogs and others have offered services or assistance to those who are emotionally impacted by the tragedy.
The Plum Mustang Foundation, a nonprofit serving students in the borough, is selling T-shirts and rubber bracelets with Prayers for Rustic Ridge or simply Rustic Ridge imprinted on them. Proceeds benefit Rustic Ridge families.
Residents across the borough have placed yard signs that read “Prayers for Rustic Ridge” outside their homes.
And a golf outing at Willowbrook Country Club organized by the high school boys and girls programs sold out in days.
At a prayer vigil Tuesday night at Ridgetop Park, more than 100 residents gathered, observed a moment of silence and held cellphones high — with flashlights on — to raise up one light.
That light symbolized a community united — in grief and fear but also in determination to support one another in finding a light forward in the darkness around them.
The victims
This little corner of Rustic Ridge was known, at least by some neighbors, as Fraternity Row, because these families spent so much time together.
The Oravitzes moved from another part of Rustic Ridge to build at this far end of the plan. As former neighbor Lindsay Sciullo said, “This was going to be their retirement home.”
Those who lost their lives were beloved members of the neighborhood but also the community.
They wore many titles: Public official. Coach. Dad. Mom. Son. Friend.
- • •
Paul Oravitz
Paul Oravitz was well known in the Plum youth soccer community and was a proud sports dad, friends said.
He and his wife, Heather, had two children: daughter Taylor, 23, and son Cole, 21. Both played soccer as kids, and Cole grew into a notable youth hockey player.
Melissa Campbell of Cranberry got to know the Oravitz family through their sons: Cole and her son, Aidan, played with the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite triple-A hockey organization.
“We spent so many weekends on the road together,” Campbell told the Trib. “When your children play high-level sports, you travel. There were some months we were on the road three weekends out of four, and holidays together.”
Oravitz was a big part of Plum Area Youth Soccer, said Fred Lucas, president of the organization since 1995. Lucas had known him for 15 years, and they were good friends.
“Paul’s the kind of guy everyone would want as a best friend,” he said.
- • •
Heather Oravitz
Those in Plum might have encountered Heather as the director of community development for the borough.
But she was best known as a loving mom and wife. She was an avid Pittsburgh sports fan and a pickleball enthusiast. She held a particular penchant for keeping a well-manicured lawn.
Heather was her husband’s biggest supporter, even in the soccer organization after their kids’ playing days were over, Lucas said.
“It takes a special wife — a lot of wives would say, ‘OK, you did your deal. Your kids are out of it. It’s time for you to do something else.’ She said, ‘This is what he loves; as long as he’s happy doing it and it’s for the kids, whatever I can do to help support it,’ ” Lucas said.
Said Fran Sciullo, who lived next door to the Oravitzes for about a decade: “Heather was dedicated to her family, generous and kind — the type of neighbor everyone would be fortunate to have.”
- • •
Michael Thomas
Thomas served as the borough manager for about 18 years (since 2005) and, according to Councilman Mike Doyle, “was everybody’s go-to guy.”
“He wasn’t just my borough manager, he was my friend,” Doyle said. “I would put him up against any borough manager in the state as far as knowledge and as far as integrity.”
Plum’s new municipal center, which the borough used to help Rustic Ridge residents after Saturday’s tragedy, was Thomas’ baby, Doyle said.
“Mike moved into this borough for this job. When he got here, this was his home and he made it better,” Doyle said. “Our community days has grown and grown and grown because of Mike and the staff, but it was through his leadership. This past Summerfest was the largest we’ve ever had.”
But Thomas was so much more. He was a father to daughter Hannah, 16, and husband to wife, Jackie. He was a central figure in Rustic Ridge.
Rafal Kolankowski, who lived a couple of houses away, might have summed it up best.
“Mike was a cool dude,” Kolankowski said. “If you needed something, he was there.”
- • •
Kevin Sebunia
It seems like everyone in that nook of Rustic Ridge has a Kevin Sebunia story. That’s how well-liked he was.
But above all, he was a dedicated family man — a devoted father and husband who willingly gave his time to others.
His wife, Kelly, and daughters, Emily and Abigail, were the most important people in Sebunia’s life, longtime friend Joe Pulcini said.
“His family came before anything,” Pulcini said. “His two girls came before everything.”
Still, Sebunia found time to help. He was a helper. It was just his nature, friends said.
He was known as “Mr. Home Depot.”
“From someone putting a deck up to something as simple as changing a light bulb, if you needed help, he was there,” said Pulcini, 56. “He had a heart of gold.”
- • •
Casey Clontz
Clontz might be best remembered for his ability to make others laugh and his knack for lovingly giving those closest to him a hard time.
He enjoyed the outdoors and cherished time fishing and hunting with his son, Keegan, his family said.
“Keegan and Casey were their most happy when they were spending time at the lake with their lake family and friends. They swam, did boating and loved cruising around in their golf cart,” the Clontz family said in a statement to the Trib.
Casey loved the Steelers — a devoted member of Steeler Nation — and he proudly wore his allegiance in the form of a tattoo on his leg. The family’s basement is filled with Pittsburgh sports memorabilia.
But Casey’s greatest love was reserved for wife Jen, Keegan and daughter Addie.
His family described him as a football and gymnastics dad through and through. He even was known to challenge his daughter to handstand competitions.
- • •
Keegan Clontz
It’s no surprise that Keegan was with his father last Saturday morning. His family described him as Casey’s shadow — always alongside his father.
But he also was “1,000% his mama’s boy,” his family said. He loved his sister, but especially when he was able to give her a hard time as only a brother can do.
Keegan’s attributes were many — kind, caring, strong and brave — but his hugs were legendary. He simply gave really good hugs, his family said.
He enjoyed playing football, hunting, fishing and riding his minibike. He adored his friends and was described by his family as the perfect teammate.
He would have been 13 in January.
The investigation
Neighbors said the Oravitzes were having issues with their hot water tank — something the Allegheny County Fire Marshal’s Office said it was aware of — and that Thomas, Sebunia and Clontz went over to help troubleshoot.
That was just what the neighbors did.
Rafal Kolankowski said that when he and his brother were building concrete steps at his house on Brookside Drive, across the street from Sebunia’s corner lot at Rustic Ridge and Brookside, Sebunia joined in without prompting.
Officials from the fire marshal’s office to Peoples natural gas to the Public Utility Commission have not divulged details of their investigation. Officials early on said determining a cause of the explosion could take months, if not years. A smaller yet still devastating explosion in 2022 in Plum’s Holiday Park neighborhood remains under investigation by the fire marshal’s office.
County officials told the Trib they do not believe there is a central source, cause or origin in those two explosions or three others dating to the mid-1990s.
Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Thursday he was ordering the state Department of Environmental Protection to open its own investigation into the Rustic Ridge explosion. Plum is home to several gas wells, a natural gas pipeline, abandoned mines and a long-burning underground mine fire.
- • •
At about 10:23 a.m. Saturday, Rustic Ridge remembered.
It was the first historical marker of inevitable ones ahead.
One month. One year. Five years. It just goes on.
But, as the Rustic Ridge community has shown over the past seven days, so will it.
Rob Amen is the TribLive managing editor. A Hempfield native and Penn State graduate, he started at the Trib in 1997. He can be reached at email hidden; JavaScript is required.
Plum Explosion
Six people died as a result of an explosion at a house in the Rustic Ridge neighborhood of Plum on Aug. 12, 2023. The explosion at 141 Rustic Ridge Drive destroyed that home, and a subsequent fire consumed the houses immediately to the right and left. Those who died were: Paul Oravitz and his wife, Heather Oravitz; neighbor Casey Clontz and his son, Keegan Clontz; neighbor and borough Manager Michael Thomas; and neighbor Kevin Sebunia. All were in the home when it exploded.
In all, three houses were destroyed and as many as 12 families were displaced. Ten homes were identified as possibly being structurally compromised. This page is dedicated to coverage of the tragedy.
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Refer also to:
The fucking authorities tried to blame industry’s leaking sour gas caused explosion on the local pub!
All these many years later, I still cannot get this terrified and distraught family dog’s haunted face out of my memory.
Muehlenbachs, who has been fingerprinting leaking gases since 1994, says that hydraulic fracking, which injects water, chemicals and sand into rock formations at high pressures, may create more leaks in wellbores overtime. (As industry searches for deeper and more extreme hydrocarbons, it must blast open tight rocks with more brute force over larger land bases than conventional operations.)
“They’ll frack each well up to 20 times. Each time the pressure will shudder and bang the pipes in the wellbore. The cement is hard and the steel is soft. If you do it all the time you are going to break bonds and cause leaks. It’s a real major issue. “ …
Asked if Alberta’s oil patch regulator or B.C.’s Oil and Gas Commission had approached one of the world’s leading experts on how to fingerprint leaking gases from gas formations, Muehlenbachs replied quickly.
“No,” said Muehlenbachs. “No one pays any attention to me. The Alberta regulators are only interested in optimizing production.”
2006:
That’s a water tank above after the methane contaminated well water ignited, not a propane tank!
1993: Below is the main reason why authorities like to blame those who blow up and die on their water tanks. None of the oil and gas industry’s leak problems have been resolved. If anything, current research shows newer wells leak much worse than older ones (greed induced shitty workmanship and shitty cheaper and cheaper casings and cement, I think)
1985:
Many many more home explosions and fatalities in oil and gas industry leaking and politician corrupted North America, I am too tired to post them all, or even a third of them.