Gas Explosion

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963 is one of the most infamous events in civil rights history, and yet yesterday, prosecutors presented two expert witnesses to testify that the explosion that killed four black girls was caused by a bomb. Prosecutors said they needed two FBI agents to verify that a bomb - rather than an accident such as a gas explosion - caused the deaths of the girls as part of their case charging former Ku Klux Klansman Thomas Blanton Jr., 62, with murder.

Investigators seeking to pinpoint the cause of a natural gas explosion Monday that killed an elderly Irvington woman focused their attention yesterday on the gas stove that was found on top of her when rescue workers dug her body from the rubble.hTC "The stove is what we're interested in," said John A. Metzger, a spokesman for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.But investigators from both the utility and the Fire Department said the mound of debris that was once a two-story, brick row house at 321 Martingale Ave. was too unsteady for them to work in safely until some of the rubble was removed or shored up.The blast that killed Marian Wilderson, 85, also injured two other residents of the quiet neighborhood and scattered debris over a block away.

A natural gas explosion ripped apart a vacant Westminster house yesterday afternoon, severely damaging dozens of neighboring homes and spreading debris more than a mile away.No one was injured, officials said.Nearly 100 families were evacuated after the 1:18 p.m. blast, and at least 50 homes were damaged -- 20 of them seriously enough to be declared uninhabitable by county housing inspectors.Residents were not allowed to return to their homes last night.The Autumn Ridge neighborhood was strewn with garage doors, shattered windows, ripped insulation and aluminum siding, while all that was left of the house at 90 Sunshine Way was a smoldering pile of wood, brick and aluminum.

WANZHOU, China - Rescue workers searched for survivors as well as more bodies yesterday in the wake of a poisonous cloud from a natural gas explosion that left what state news media described as a "death zone." More than 40,000 people were evacuated, and witnesses described fields containing the lifeless bodies of people and animals. State television showed evacuees crowding into emergency shelters throughout this mountainous section of southwestern China. In makeshift clinics, doctors - many from surrounding cities - were treating villagers who lived near the explosion site for poisoning, burns and respiratory problems.

A year after a Westminster neighborhood was rocked by a natural gas explosion that leveled one home and damaged 60 others, many residents still are coping with the blast's financial and emotional aftershocks.For families in the Autumn Ridge community whose homes were declared uninhabitable, the past year has been defined by hassles with insurance companies, months of temporary living arrangements and attempts to return to a normal life."Two days after the explosion, we were told [by a state insurance official]

Stephen A. Renehan of Irvington still jumps when he hears a car backfire, the legacy of a day last month when a house blew up 17 doors away, knocking him to the ground.In the weeks after the explosion, which killed the elderly woman who lived in the house, fears grew in the neighborhood that natural gas could leak in other homes. Investigators said the blast probably was caused by an appliance left on or by a leak, but they couldn't be sure because the explosion destroyed the evidence.Last weekend, the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. responded by inspecting 136 homes and telling residents how to minimize the potential dangers.

Workers for an Ellicott City contractor who ruptured a Westminster natural gas pipeline last week may have ignored above-ground markings while installing an underground cable television line, the state Public Service Commission has determined.More than two hours after the main was damaged Jan. 19, a natural gas explosion leveled one home, left 20 families homeless and caused property damage estimated at more than $1 million.The Public Service Commission -- which was investigating whether Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s response to the accident conformed to state regulations -- said workers for Apollo Trenching Co. weren't paying attention to marks on the street indicating where BGE's pipeline ran."

An Essex man was seriously injured and his house nearly destroyed Sunday night when leaking gas ignited. The explosion occurred just after 11 p.m., a few hours after another gas leak in the Lower Eastern Shore town of Snow Hill killed a utility worker and injured 17 people. Matthew Wedderin, 47, was taken by ambulance to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center with first- and second-degree burns to his face, hands and back. Wedderin was the sole occupant of the house in the 500 block of Welbrook Road at the time of the explosion.

The general manager of a Jessup warehouse suffered minor burns yesterday morning after a natural gas leak caused two small explosions, Howard County fire officials said.Workers at L & M Produce Co. in the 7300 block of Assateague Drive called the fire department about 8: 56 to report that natural gas had been leaking for about five minutes and caused an explosion in one of the company's produce coolers. The cooler leads to a loading dock outside.Fire officials said that about 10 minutes after firefighters arrived at 9: 06 a.m., there was a second explosion in the refrigerator.

A 72-year-old Anne Arundel County woman died last night and two others were injured in an apparent propane explosion that leveled the family's house in the 300 block of Poplar Road in Millersville. Anne Arundel County fire officials said Betty Sawyer was thrown from the split-level house - the roof lay in the middle of the debris - into the front yard about 7:10 p.m. last night and was pronounced dead at the scene. Also injured in the blast were Sawyer's husband, Robert, 74, and the couple's 40-year-old son, Thomas Nelson Sawyer - known as Nelson - who family members said was doing work in the basement when the explosion occurred.