Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A North Huntingdon family of five lost their house in an explosion yesterday,
but no one was injured in the blast, which might have been caused by a faulty
gas clothes dryer.
The house at 1910 Warren Ave. in the Sunset Valley development was home to
Kevin L. and Sheila K. “Shelly” Good and her three children from a previous
marriage, 17-year-old Christopher Trudeau and 15-year-old twins Ashley and
Amanda Trudeau.
American Red Cross officials said the family was in shock and did not want
to talk to reporters. The explosion and fire that followed destroyed the house
and everything in it.
“They literally lost everything,” said Barbara K. Smith, emergency services
director for the American Red Cross Westmoreland County Chapter.
State and North Huntingdon fire officials were investigating. Township
police Chief Charles Henaghan said preliminary indications pointed to a natural
gas blast.
Henaghan said the family noticed an odor of gas around the clothes dryer
last week. He said Good repaired a leak, and the machine was used over the
weekend.
The Goods were at work and the children, Norwin School District students,
were in class when the explosion occurred about 11:30 a.m.
But a next-door neighbor, Yvonne Skuhrovec, was home at 1900 Warren Ave.
with one of her sons.
“We thought a tree came down and hit the house or an airplane lost its
toilet or something and hit [my roof],” Skuhrovec said. “It just shook the
whole house.
“We ran out the back door, looking for a tree, and we found the flames just
rolling up the side of our house and out of [the Goods’ ] house.”
Skuhrovec said she and her son, Jim, a volunteer firefighter, quickly
checked the Good home.
“My son wanted to make sure that nobody was trapped in that explosion,” she
said. “I don’t think they would have survived.”
Township police officer Bill Sombo, the first responder on the scene, said
the blast blew out the front and one side of the Goods’ house before flames
destroyed the rest of it.