A drone view of the damage.
The surviving family members of the White household have retained Philadelphia-based law firm Wapner Newman to represent them in seeking justice in the wake of the deadly explosion of their Hale Street home in Pottstown..
"The most critical consideration for our team is to support the family through this terrible time. The family's losses are unimaginable and strike at the heart of what we hold dearest," said Wapner Newman Partner Samuel A. Anyan, Jr. in a press release. "We will fight for accountability for their devastating loss and are committed to securing justice in the names of those killed and injured by this tragedy."
Four children and their grandmother were killed in the explosion: Francine White, 67; Jeremiah White, 12; Nehemiah White, 10; Tristan White, 8; and Alana Wood, 13.
Eugene White, 44, and Wood’s mother Kristina Matuzsan, 32, were seriously injured in the blast and remain hospitalized. All seven resided at 453 Hale Street, per The Mercury, which Eugene White purchased last year.
Cathy McKee, the mother of Jeremiah and Nehemiah White, told Fox29 that the pain gets worse every day.
"People tell me it will get easier every day I wake up, and it gets harder," McKee told Fox29. "My children are not going to grow up, they are not going to a prom, to have children, they are never going to have that chance … Nehemiah and Jeremiah were full of life, they were beautiful children, they wanted to grow up. They had a journey, they explored everything, you can buy them a million toys in this whole world, and they would go out and find their own things to play with."
The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, along with the Pottstown Borough Police and Pottstown Fire Company, continue to investigate the cause of the explosion.
Neighbors had reported to authorities there was a frequent odor of natural gas in the area on multiple occasions, but the odor was never investigated by authorities. The former homeowner of 455 Hale Street, Ryan Nagel, posted about it on his Facebook account the night of the explosion.
“I am in tears. We tried the whole time we lived there to let people know about the smells of gas but no one listened,” wrote Nagel on his Facebook page. “Please pray for the family lost.”
Nagel told Fox29 he moved out of the home in 2017.
"The whole time, the 10 years we lived there, we could smell gas. Every once in a while, we’d smell gas, wondering what it was. We’d call police, they’d come out and not smell anything and say it was fine,” Nagel told Fox29.
PECO stated last week that neither of the homes were natural gas customers, contrary to what Montgomery County property records show for 453 Hale Street. The property records for that parcel show gas heating as the source for heating fuel. A propane tank was also found intact on the property.
On Wednesday, police confirmed that the cause of the explosion was not a methamphetamine lab, which, according to The Mercury, was speculated online.
“They’ve narrowed it down but one thing we do know is it was not a meth lab, that has been ruled out,” said Pottstown Fire Chief Frank Hand in the article.
Inspectors with the borough’s Licensing and Inspections Department and the Pottstown Fire Department have flagged six homes that are cause for concern in the wake of the explosion, according to The Mercury. A borough-hired structural engineer began inspecting the homes on Thursday, per the report. All in all, authorities have identified at least 65 homes bounded by North Washington Street, May Street, West Street, Jefferson Avenue and Warren Street that must be checked out for structural issues from the blast.
Residents who were unable to meet with inspectors this week should set up an appointment with the Licensing and Inspections Department at 610-970-6520 or [email protected].
"The family can count on the exceptional care and legal representation Wapner Newman is known for, receiving only the very best from everyone on our team," said Wapner Newman Managing Partner Robert S. Miller in the press release.
Read our original article on the explosion here.
See also:
4 Dead, 2 Injured, 2 Missing, 60 Displaced in Pottstown House Explosion Thursday Night
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Pedestrian Struck, Killed on Bethlehem Pike Friday Night in Hatfield Township
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