Feds Launch Investigation After Two Homes In Jackson, Mississippi, Explode In a Matter of Days, One Woman Killed

A federal agency released a preliminary report on its investigation into two back-to-back home explosions that happened within days of each other in Jackson, Mississippi, resulting in the death of an 82-year-old woman.

According to the Mississippi Free Press, the first home on Bristol Boulevard exploded on Jan. 24, killing 82-year-old Clara Barbour. Another person inside the home was able to escape. Three days later, a home less than a mile away on Shalimar Drive also exploded. That home was vacant, and no one was hurt. Both homes were destroyed.

Feds Launch Investigation After Two Homes In Jackson, Mississippi, Explode In a Matter of Days, One Woman Killed
Federal investigators released a preliminary report following an investigation into two back-to-back home explosions in Jackson, Mississippi, one of which killed 82-year-old Clara Barbour. (Photos: Facebook/Wyvette Staffney, Getty Images)

The National Transportation Safety Board investigated both explosions to determine if they were connected in any way and if gas leaks or substandard infrastructure were to blame.

The agency released its preliminary report weeks after the explosions, stating that Atmos Energy Corporation, the company that provided natural gas to the houses, identified “non-hazardous” leaks in their distribution system near the homes before they exploded, but the company did not repair them at the time of their discovery.

NTSB later discovered that the operating pressure of the pipeline running under the neighborhood was about 336 pounds per square inch gauge (psig), which is below its maximum operable level.

“Both before and after NTSB investigators arrived, Atmos conducted postaccident leak inspections at both locations and found leaks on mechanical couplings near the previously identified leaks,” the NTSB report stated. “Atmos detected subsurface gas at the leaks nearest locations 1 and 2, the homes where the explosions occurred, and near the foundations of adjacent homes.”

Residents who live near Barbour’s home were forced to evacuate in the days after the 82-year-old’s home exploded. Crews dug up the yards of several homes on Bristol Boulevard. One resident told WAPT that Atmos informed her they had to replace the gas lines. Atmos also checked for leaks in nearby neighborhoods.

The Mississippi Free Press reported that a Central District Mississippi Public Service Commission official and several Jackson City Council members met with community members in several meetings in the weeks after the explosions, where residents questioned Atmos Energy representatives about the safety of the gas pipelines running under their homes.

“We’re going to look at everybody that digs in the ground,” Commissioner De’Keither Stamps said at one community meeting. “We’re not letting Atmos off the hook at all. There’s other folks running cable lines and broadband and water and sewer. We’re going to look at everybody.”

NTSB will release a second report that is supposed to paint a better picture of what caused the explosions and reveal whether any safety measures were overlooked. It could take anywhere between 12 and 24 months to complete.

While the NTSB is typically known for investigating civilian aircraft or train accidents, incidents involving natural gas pipelines are also under the agency’s purview.

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