NTSB releases information in investigation into deadly Silver Spring apartment explosion

WASHINGTON (ABC7) — The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a painstakingly detailed progress report chocked-full of new facts pertaining to last summer's Silver Spring apartment explosion.

The report, which does not identify a cause or assign blame, contains 108 documents, including transcribed witness interviews, vivid investigatory photographs and fire department call logs.

One witness parked his car along Arliss Street on the night of August 10, 2016. He recollected seeing a sudden "white flash" and feeling a "shock wave" overcome his body. The sheer force of the blast shattered some of the man's car windows and even dented one of his car doors.

“There was a flash, there was shock wave," the man, who suffered a minor cut near his right ear, told investigators. “I must tell you that the explosion came from the apartment on the first floor. There were two apartments on top of it that basically went down on it.”

A second male witness, who lived in the doomed four-story building, explained that he smelled natural gas in the stairwell minutes before the explosion. The man walked to the basement and heard a "hissing noise," and so he left the building to call a friend. Within seconds, the building erupted behind him. The man snapped a photo with his cell phone and then ran to his family's rescue.

Other witness interviews, conducted over many months, include other Flower Branch Apartment residents, Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service (MCFRS) personnel, Washington Gas employees and Kay Management. In certain instances, attorneys were present for the recorded conversations.

The detailed NTSB report states 68 people were hurt in the blast — 65 civilians and three firefighters. Until now, officials had said the injury count was around 35. The NTSB also explains that property damage caused by the incident exceeds $1 million.

The Flower Branch Apartments consist of 26 buildings built around 1955 — 8701 Arliss Street being the structure that exploded, with 8703 Arliss Street also taking on irreparable damage. Aside from a handful of cases, the original mercury regulators are still in use throughout the complex.

According to the NTSB, the basement utility room in 8701 Arliss housed two mercury regulators, a vent pipe and a bank of fifteen gas meters, which fed 13 apartments, a leasing office and the building's water heater. In March 2016, five months before the deadly blast, the Montgomery County Department of Permitting, Division of Fire Prevention and Code Compliance, citied Kay Management for storing "gas-powered" and "combustible materials" in boiler rooms, mechanical rooms and electrical equipment rooms. Management said it corrected all of the violations on May 5, 2016.

However, according to the NTSB, at the time of the explosion, 8701's utility room was still stocked with items including, boxes of new air conditioning units and furnaces, new chain saw, pressure washer, back pack blower, one-gallon gasoline container, as well as equipment parts for appliances, and other supplies such as cleaning solutions and toilet paper.

Kay Management's maintenance supervisor claims he visited 8701's utility and storage room on August 8, 2016, two days before the explosion. He later told Kay Management's president that the "meter room" was "immaculate, spotless.” In fact, Kay Management's president explained to investigators that the “there was no equipment, nothing within 15 feet of the meters, and there were two shelves on the left side, and maybe there were two snow blowers in there.” Yet, the NTSB says Kay Management's been unable to explain what prompted the maintenance supervisor to visit the utility room that day, nor has it presented any documentation to that effect.

The NTSB says 3701 Arliss' meter room was secured with both a knob lock and vertical deadbolt. Kay Management, MCFRS and third-party contractors were the only individuals with pre-approved access to the space. But the NTSB is now revealing that Kay changed the lock a short time before the explosion, and failed to provide MCFRS with a new set of keys.

That is a pertinent fact because on July 25, 2016, — 16 days before the explosion — MCFRS was dispatched to 8701 Arliss for the reported smell of natural gas. A paramedic-engine responded to the apartment building and used a recently calibrated multi-gas detector throughout the structure. One of the four firefighters reported smelling natural gas. The electronic device, however, detected nothing. Firefighters visited the building's basement in attempt to enter the meter room, but without the updated set of keys, were unable to do so. The paramedic-engine cleared the scene at 10:33 p.m., 13 minutes after first arriving. Montgomery County emergency dispatch records also showed natural gas-related dispatches to 8701 Arliss on October 4, 2015 and January 12, 2016, but as in the July incident, firefighters were unable to detect anything.

As for Washington Gas, the NTSB claims the public utility company received no natural gas complaints at 8701 or 8703 Arliss Street in the five years leading up the explosion. The most recent incident was in February 2011, when Washington Gas repaired a "grade-3 leak" on the meter rack. That service request had been made by Kay Management.

While records show Washington Gas and MCFRS did not make a frequent habit of visiting 8701 Arliss, work order logs reveal Kay Management did:

• September 3, 2015 — gas odor call in apartment 202, which resulted in replacement of an oven knob.
• October 16, 2015 — gas odor call in apartment 202, that required appliance repair.
• November 12, 2015 — gas odor call in apartment 201, which reported intense smell of gas. Maintenance personnel could not detect any leak at the stove and furnace, no work performed.
• May 28, 2016 — gas odor call was made from apartment 202, the maintenance personnel corrected it by checking the stove.
• June 6, 2016 — gas odor call made from apartment 302, resulted in replacement of stove knob that was not turning off the stove.

The NTSB adds that the work order logs do not indicate whether Kay Management personnel ever visited the utility, meter and storage rooms while tending to their tenant complaints.

Because 8701 and 8703 Arliss Street were constructed during the 1950s, they were not beholden to modern day fire codes. Consequently, neither structure had carbon monoxide alarms, automatic fire alarm systems, automatic fire sprinklers, visible alarm notifications, backup batteries or backup power. Kay Management's fire alarm contractor stated there were no smoke detectors installed in any of the utility rooms or hallways, and added, that he was unsure whether smoke detectors in the actual units.

Both 8701 and 8703 Arliss Street did house manual fire alarms, often referred to as "ring and run", with a pull box located at the front entrance and two bells, one on the main level and the other on the second floor. One of the manual system's major drawbacks is the necessity for someone to still call 911 during a fire.

Although records show 8701 Arliss' fire alarm had last been successfully tested on April 27, 2016 by a third-party company, the NTSB says Montgomery County's Fire Safety Code requires monthly testing. During all of its interviews with residents, the NTSB says no one reported hearing fire or smoke alarms following the deadly August 2016, explosion.

If you would like to read the NTSB's full docket material, click here: https://go.usa.gov/xRdDB