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Two officials were just feet away from home before it exploded

By WKTV News

Story Created: Nov 1, 2011 at 5:45 PM EDT

Story Updated: Nov 2, 2011 at 9:35 AM EDT

WHITESBORO, N.Y. (WKTV) - National Grid has released new details related to the house explosion that killed a Whitesboro woman over the weekend.

On Tuesday, National Grid said that two officials were just feet away from the Ablett Avenue home before it exploded.

Crews were called to the area after an odor of gas was detected by people who live in the neighborhood. The blast killed 84 year old Ariadna Tarnowski, who lived in the home.

National Grid officials said they were not called to the area earlier in the day as was originally believed by some neighbors, but were, in fact, investigating the odor when the explosion took place.

The initial call came in just 50 minutes before the incident occurred.

"We did not receive any calls prior to the one at 7:30," said Melanie Littlejohn. "I think there was speculation early on that there were National Grid crews in the area prior to that call at 7:30, and that was not the case."

Littlejohn adds that if you ever detect an odor of gas in or around your home, call National Grid immediately and a crew will come by and do a check of the area.

"If there is a gas leak tied to their internal equipment, we will certainly tag that equipment and shut that off, at which time we encourage them to call their installer to ensure that there equipment is operating properly," said Littlejohn.

Littlejohn said it was incredibly "lucky" that no one else was injured in the explosion, because they were so close to the blast.

The investigation into Saturday's deadly explosion is still ongoing.

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