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Subscribe to RSSInvestigators believe a gas appliance may have been the cause of a powerful explosion that engulfed a middle class neighborhood in flames. NBC's Ron Allen reports.
With no hint of a problem in advance, in particular no tell-tale smell of a gas leak, authorities and residents in a southern Indianapolis neighborhood are trying to make sense of an enormous blast that obliterated two homes and made dozens more uninhabitable.
Fire officials expressed amazement that only two people died in the late Saturday explosion so powerful that the devastation spread for blocks from its epicenter. Hundreds of residents were forced to evacuate their Richmond Hill homes, some never to return. Windows and doors were blown in. The blast rocked several houses entirely from their foundations and was so loud it awoke people three miles away. A fire burned for hours, engulfing dozens of homes.
“We have done initial testing throughout the neighborhood and have not found any gas leaks," Dan Considine, Citizens Energy spokesman, told IndyStar.com Monday.
"We are still doing additional testing of the gas main and the lines to the homes on Fieldfare Way,” he said. “We have not at this point found any problems with any external gas lines.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was also called in to help with the investigation.
Early Monday, Indianapolis public safety director Troy Riggs said forensic investigators were talking with utility companies and others as they tried to determine the cause.
"We need to make sure that we get some of the forensics back and that we follow where the evidence takes us," Riggs told WISH-TV.
U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, who represents the area, has said he had been told a bomb or meth lab explosion had been ruled out.
Deputy Fire Chief Kenny Bacon said investigators hadn't ruled out any possible causes.
Citizens Energy had received no calls from people in the area smelling the rotten eggs of a chemical added to natural gas, which is odorless, utility spokesman Dan Considine said.
"Most of the time when there's a gas leak, people smell it," he said. "But not always."
Carson said the National Transportation Safety Board and the federal Department of Transportation, which have oversight over pipelines, were sending investigators.
Riggs said police officers and investigators would continue to search and secure the neighborhood on Monday.
"It could take some time. We've asked people to be patient," Riggs told WRTV.
Dan Able, a 58-year-old state employee who lives across the street from the flattened homes, was puzzled by the blast.
"I'm wondering about all the possibilities it could be," he said.
Authorities set up relief operations at a school and church to shelter those displaced in the blast. Some moved in with friends and relatives. Others found hotel rooms.
Alex Pflanzer was sound asleep when the explosion blew out his windows and his wife started to scream.
"I didn't know what was going on," Pflanzer said. "I thought someone was breaking in the house, because the alarm was going off."
Pflanzer grabbed his gun and checked the house. Then he noticed the front door was open and saw a reddish glow flickering outside.
"I walked outside and all the houses were on fire," he said.
The Pflanzers and their two dogs found a hotel room, but they couldn't coax their panic-stricken cat out of a crawlspace.
"All the material things can be replaced, so I'm not worried about that stuff," he said. "People are a lot worse off than I am. People died, and so our thoughts and prayers go out to them first."
Officials have not released the identities of the two people killed. A candlelight vigil was held Sunday night at Southwest Elementary School in nearby Greenwood for second-grade teacher Jennifer Longworth. She and her husband, John Dion Longworth, lived in one of the homes destroyed in the blast. WTHR-TV reported that friends, family and colleagues of the teacher gathered at the school.
Deputy Code Enforcement Director Adam Collins said 80 homes were damaged including 31 that might need to be demolished. He estimated the damage at $3.6 million.
Some residents were allowed to return to their homes under police escort Sunday, but just to retrieve a few belongings. Others whose homes weren't as badly damaged were allowed to return, but officials said they would have to do without electricity overnight. And others, officials said, never will be allowed to go back inside their homes.
"There are houses that will have to be torn down," Bacon said.
He said the toll could have been much worse. "I know we're very fortunate that some of the people weren't home," he said.
Officials said at least two dozen off-duty police officers who live on the city's south side rushed to the scene to help with the rescue effort. More than 80 firefighters battled flames and searched the wreckage of homes for trapped survivors.
At the Southport Presbyterian Church shelter, tables were piled high with blankets, food, diapers, water and other supplies. An animal shelter on the south side of the city offered free boarding for pets whose owners had nowhere to take them.
Rev. Rob Hock said hundreds of congregants had shown up to help after he put out a call during Sunday morning services.
Darron Cummings / AP
The powerful nighttime blast shattered windows, crumpled walls and could be felt at least three miles away.
NBC News staff contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
wow what a blast.............sorry for your loss's
Maybe it was a meteorite.
I think Foreign attorney is right, it might have been a meteorite.
Where is the crater??
It was Stewies Time Machne blowing up.
Look at the size of the debris, it will tell you the speed of the explosion. It could not be gas or propane. In a gas explosion you see chunks of walls doors, roof that are much larger than whats seen in the photos. This explosion must have been powered by a high speed explosive. C4 etc. Gas does not do this. To the people of Indy. Do not allow your government to cover this up. Demand truth and transparency. Demand access for your own lab people to take the samples. If an explosive of any kind was used the residue will be everywhere. Dont allow yourselves to be lied to like the WTC 9-11 attack. NO COVERUPS.
As for it being a meteorite; there is no proof or evidence that this was a meteorite. Meteorites that hit the ground with this much force always leaves a crater.
My guess would be seepage from a natural gas deposit or methane deposit.. We had a house 15 miles away many years ago vaporize from gas.. People near by had the flaming well water problem just days earlier.. I am going to check the vent on my well as it is in my basement and I want that vent outside now in case we get seepage.. Unprocessed these gasses have no odor and are heavy enough to fill a basement or two over a few days.. We have had some earthquakes and that could have dislodged the gas.. An impact from a Meteorite big enough to do this kind of damage would leave a crater.. This blast was up and out and has the fingerprint of an explosion.. If they find a crater I think people should rethink the Mayan 12-21-12 thing in a hurry.. The fact that earthquake activity is way up lately should be making people wonder WTF..
Other train of thought leeds to a homeowner doing it on purpose for insurance or to cover foul play.. Make a small leak and let it build up while you are out of town.. Rig a cell phone or computer to cause a spark and you could phone it in..They will get to the bottom of it but it may take a while..
Foreign attorney has a small chance at being right. Notice that is is evident that it was definately an "explosion" and not an "implosion". Also notice that the majority of the mass goes toward the rear of the home at a very distinct angle. Then notice how much of the debris did not go upward and outward toward the other homes. This would tend to indicate that the blast was not centered in the middle of the home, but toward the back as if detonation was at a moving angle.
Notice they mention the vigil held for the teacher, but no other information given of the husband?
@speakthetruth.....Any chance of this being a missle strike? I heard a conspiracy theory last night; a Russian spy satellite overheard detected the launch of two missles. There was more info with this, but it still sounds convoluted. I don't want to say more at this time because it .....just sounds CRAZY.
There is no way that this was due to a meteorite, there would definitely be a crater with this much energy released. It looks like a high velocity explosion based on the size of the pieces of debris. Low velocity explosions usually leave much larger pieces behind, this house looks like it was blown to splinters. uncompressed gas does not cause a high velocity explosion like this, so I do not see how it could have been caused by gas build up in the home. Hopefully they will find some residue that will identify what the material was that caused this explosion.
I'm thinking it's either a meteorite that exploded BEFORE hitting the ground, which causes a huge downward explosion with NO CRATER or some kind of new weapon being tested on the population. If it was anything ordinary they would have known the day of the explosion.
It wouldn't surprise me if some kind of cover-up follows soon. Something to the extent of," Oh look, we overlooked some evidence, it was indeed a gas explosion " or some other lame lie.
Peter, Egon, and Ray crossed the streams. Total protonic reversal.
Funny, yes. But also more likely than GetMadStayMad's conspiracy theories.
Scooter, got to agree with you there.
Gas explosion, happened last year in Ohio blew the front of a brick 8 unit apt building to dust, then caught fire. It woke half the town up. My husband lays gas pipelines. Gas seeks the lowest ground, builds up, and when it has the right mix with oxygen, 1 spark, and boom. It sounds and looks like dynamite went off.
Apparently alot of you slept through science class. Natural gas is one of the most combustible elements on earth.
This was likely a natural gas leak that emulated from the feed line that connected the individual house to the utility main.
Something as simple as a pilot light on a gas dryer or stove going out will enable the gas to incrementally build up within the house. Given the time of year and day, these two people could have been sound asleep and not known a thing. The lack of reported odor would have resulted from the gas mainly being confined within the house since the windows were likely closed. Anything electronic that was "on" at the time could have set the explosion off once the air/gas ratio was right.
What the gas company is doing now, is "CYA" = Covering Your @ss, as in, they are likely analyzing all main connections so they will not be held liable. Feed lines that come onto a person's property are not the liability of utility companies.
Actually, it looks like the gas leak may have been in the home of a couple that went on a weekend getaway. A guy received a text from his daughter (who lived in one of the disintegrated homes with his ex-wife) that there was a problem with the furnace last week.
The two deaths appear to have been the couple living closest to them.
That could explain the lack of reported smell, and the ability to fill a large 2-story house before anyone noticed/anything set it off. Check out local NBC afilliate coverage from wthr.com for more speculation.
Meth lab and bomb have now been ruled out. Whole neighborhood would have been toxic as hell if it was a meth lab.
Around here when houses blow up, somebody is usually cooking meth.
But, you say they've ruled that out ...
@ Randy
Science, Schmience!
Just more libtards trying to cover up the truth - Obama must have farted and blown up that house!
This was obviously a prelude to a massive invasion by Communists in China. To arms! We need a new enemy to justify a massive military budget!
The MSN article says the neighbor thinks it was the gas furnace - damn, I have a gas heating furnace. Two years ago when I was in my attic I decided to check out the furnace (house built in 2006, we bought it in 2009), I found the Instruction Manual sitting on top of the furnace - with the top edge of the manual charred from where it caught fire. Thankfully it was still in a plastic wrapping, so when it got to the plastic, it went out. I wonder how many of my neighbors have their instruction booklet sitting on top of their furnace - just waiting to go off?
If it was the furnace that exploded - they would not have smelled the leaking gas inside the home.
I'm going to our HOA meeting Tuesday to show them my instruction manual - I wonder if they will notify the neighborhood? Gotta love Mexican builders here in Tucson...we don't need no stinking regulations and inspections, us Red State folks can handle anything...lmfao!
It was Lord Voldemort trying to kill Harry Potter!
My first thought was a meth lab accident.
theres no way that was a meth lab. EVERYONE in that neighborhood would have smelled the chemicals in the air from the lab, its not an odor you can cover up. even if someone was doing the shake n bake method in a soda bottle in thier basement it would have been noticed.
gas explosion is highly unlikely as well. the damage is too severe. usually when a gas leak explodes it only damages the house it originated from and lightly damages a couple others that surround it. the article states that several houses were knocked off thier foundations. that is the kind of effect you get from high explosives, not a gas explosion.
somebody was making a fetilizer bomb or trying to make homemade plastic explosives.
Meth lab.
The article says that "officials" have ruled out a meth lab. They also ruled out a bomb blast. So a gas leak is all that's left even though there were no prior signs.
It sounds like there are conflicting reports on what they have and have not ruled out.
Spectacular suicide/homicide by intentional gas explosion?
Mafia style - cut small corner of a bag of flour off, place in front of a 20" box fan so powder is blown all over the air of the room.
On other side of room, light a candle and the run like heck.
Grain dust [flour, wheat, corn] is VERY EXPLOSIVE.
Everything about that explosion is "non-findable", no chemicals, gas, accelerants, etc just a big boom
No a meth lab was not ruled out. See below.
But that is what you get in the news when you elect idiots into public office. Andre carson only won the seat because everyone in that district loved Julia Carson. He should not be re-elected. He is keeping the black people of his district down instead of helping them.
Terrorist cell's bomb? Too, great for meth lab explosion. This is more like the Oklahoma bomb.
I don't know about Rep. Carson but you're right, I skimmed over that "ruled out" part too quickly.
"external" lines found no evidence of leaking.
At my old Water District he had a saying; first order of business, assess the blame. Our other frequent saying was; as a public utility worker - you are presumed guilty until proved innocent.
The water district's responsibility ended at the water meter, since the gas meter is usually next to the house, is the gas company responsible for lines on private property? People plant trees and sometimes nick a line which will corrode over time, or the tree roots will displace a line over time....nothing the gas company (or other utility companies) can do about what people do to their own private property.
I'll never forget when a private contractor working about 100 feet from our job, hit a gas main, the first thing a cop did when he showed up was to start sparking up road flares....we ran for cover...lol.
In the article; Mother Mary on a hospital window, a commenter said this explosion (and Sandy) were acts of God...I didn't know that when I was changing out a water meter - that it was actually God doing the work - is he entitled to my pension? It's bad enough that the soon to be ex wife wants half of it (all earned before I met her). If God and the ex want to fight it out - it will be the first time I rooted for God.
ummm im thinking a Meth Lab, when one of those things go they really go
A meth lab doesnt have the power to blow these houses into little pieces. This was a high speed explosive, Semtex. C4 etc. Looking at the area involved and the damage done as well as the secrecy seen here Id say that the "Hellfire missile fired from a out of control CIA operated Drone" scenario is #1 on the list. Any missile fired on the North American continent is Always recorded by satellites. That much is public knowledge. The delay in telling us the cause of the explosion says a lot. Any explosive material leaves a residue. It couldnt have been a natural gas explosion the pieces of the debris are too small. Id say the Federal government is trying to find a way to cover this up and the local government will go along with whatever the feds say.
Thank you, anonymous internet explosives expert. I'll put my trust in the "cock-up before conspiracy" school of thought.
I'm more inclined to believe John Shirley, owner of one of the destroyed houses, who says his daughter texted him last week about problems with the furnace. His ex-wife & daughter were out of town over the weekend. The two deaths were nearest neighbors.
But maybe you're right. This is a government coverup! They don't want us to know the CIA (why pick the one intelligence agency that doesn't do domestic?) has armed drones (why pick an anti-tank missile?) flying over random suburbs in the midwest. To think otherwise would be... insane.
double post. deleted.
...or am I just doing another coverup? The horror!
I'm not one to jump to conspiracy theories here, but I think 'getmadstaymad' might be leaning in the right direction - something military that went array. If they do in fact rule out meth labs and gas leaks, that actually seems more likely than a suburban household randomly having a huge stockpile of military grade explosives.
I live in Indiana and there is a lot of talk over the cause. From gas leak to meth lab to plane crash, no one seems to know the cause. All I know is that it must have been something powerful to impact houses down the street and to have been felt miles away!
The absence of a DC-9 might help narrow their concerns.
It has the hallmarks of explosives..now who, what, why...all up in the air...Perhaps someone's neat little secret literally blew up in their face, perhaps the explosive combination was some kind of accident of environment, perhaps the home was targeted......lots of investigating yet to do.
A plane crash wouldn't cause that amount of damage unless it was a jetliner and, if so, that would obviously be known by now.
The airport is pretty close, the planes do fly pretty low, but you are right, I think they would have spotted some wreckage.
No debris if it was Wonder Woman's plane!
According to the FAA, the only two investigated crashes in history that didn't leave behind large portions of the plane were AA Flight 93 in Pennsylvania and AA Flight 77 that crashed into the pentagon, both on September 11th, 2001. So the chances of it being a plane crash with no wreckage are minute.
Well...since everyone else is speculating... it's the Large Hadron Collider and one of its tiny black holes drifted into this house.... hmmm...but that would have caused an implosion instead of an explosion.....never mind.
Meteorite.
Auntie, probably would be a crater if meteorite.
Only an idiot like you riverboy would still believe the bush/cheney official lie about a plane hitting the pentagon. Show the proof a plane hit the pentagon, you can't and you never will be able to, since it was a missile that hit the pentagon. What moron would believe such a bogus lie. Did you pass the 2nd grade ?
Never mind, idiots can pass high school these days.
My relatives live in Indianapolis, and I know immediately when it happened they were online communicating with each other asking if anyone in the area had felt the explosion, and if anyone knew what it was... This is very scary because they live don't live in South Indianapolis, and they STILL felt the explosion that's how strong it was.
I pray for the two people that lost their lives, and all the people that are now without their homes due to this situation, whatever the cause.
Actually alex, they found wreckage from the airplane all over the site. The proof is there but you don't have the brainpower to understand itl
Also, meteors can be going fast enough to vaporize, causing an explosive pressure wave, and possibly leaving a bit of residue.
Alex you are the idiot, what do you think I was already suggesting by stating that there was no wreckage in those crashes either? You and I have the same belief on the subject but somehow you totally missed what I was saying. Read it again, no wreckage = minute chance of being a plane. Therefore, no plane at the Pentagon or in Pennsylvania either. Read and think before you post, idiot.
And Rex, they found one piece of one engine at the pentagon, in Pennsylvania they never found any piece over a foot long. This isn't my opinion, read the FAA reports, they found it extremely unusual that there wasn't wreckage. They even found large pieces of wreckage from the planes that hit the World Trade centers, but not the other two?
Alex, you're a moron if you didn't get what Riverboy was saying. I bet you had to have someone tell you what to think before you figured out there was something suspicious about 9/11.
Gee! One would think that all these morons would get along better.
Birds of a feather ya know.
With a blast that size this was no gas leak, something was going on. Speaking from my military days around explosives.
Yeah, it seems like quite the blast to be from a gas leak. One house OK maybe in just the right circumstances. But this? I doubt it very much. I doubt it was a utility line that burst either.
Read this. Makes you wonder what actually happened.
Not really true. Think about making a box the size of a house and filling it with natural gas, then throwing a match into it. You basically have one big wooden fuel air explosive. A McMansion at 5% concentration methane is one pretty big f**king bomb.
Usually they blow up before a huge amount of gas accumulates, but if theres nothing there to ignite it for a few days you can imagine what would happen.
@ Beef - you would expect someone to smell the gas before the house filled up completely and like you said the gas buildup would have to not be triggered early by anything else like the furnace or water heater - and the air-fuel mixture would have to be just right.
A gas line burst near my home about a year back. Only one house was damaged or exploded. Only a few other homes were barely damaged. I am going to go with no on the gas leak. Or the lines burst in several places. At any rate, this is crazy and I feel for those people.
It was natural gas or LP, classic tell-tale evidence from debris trail. I have seen this before, "google" the following and you'll see story: parkers prairie minnesota 1996 fire explosion
more gas does not always = bigger explosion. if it displaces the o2 then the strength of explosion goes down and flames go up.
Natural gas smells because a chemical is added at the distribution center. If gas came from underground, like a coal deposit or fracking, it wouldn't have an odor, hence the use of canaries in coal mines. Note the recent demonstrations of faucet water burning. Just speculating.
Does anyone know if they are fracking for natural gas in the area? I know there are fracking operations going on @ New Albany.
Meteorite.
I think I have to lean towards Realist's theory. My first thoughts too were either natural gas or meth lab but was still uncertain due to size of blast. It would appear that meth lab is out. Still a chance for natural gas but alot of things would've had to come into play for that to happen like it did making it less probable. As more info comes out I think more that it was something else and some type of formal explosive seems to be more likely. Perhaps someone had a "souvenir" or something that they either made or found and it went off. Will be interesting to see what final verdict is.
Also, really have to tear down 31 homes? From video and pictures I saw didn't appear that there would be that many though I suppose the blast maybe damaged some of the homes structurally in away that is not obvious from the video or photos alone.
It is time
I wonder if it might have something to do with the earthquake that hit KY that Saturday.
It was felt in Cincinnati but I don't think it affected as far away as Indianapolis.
The earthquake was only 4.3 and did no damage. that's not it.
would not be so localized.
Im from Los Angeles but live in Cincinnati. I barely felt it, but it was fun to watch everyone freak out over it. :o)
Newer houses are more airtight than old ones. This might reduce the chance of neighbors smelling a leak inside one unoccupied house. If a flexible gas connection line ruptured in the basement (or a valve failed, or some other cause of a large leak), it could accumulate a lot of explosive mixture. This blast happened at 11:10pm after a warm day. It is possible that the thermostat called for heat and the furnace ignitor sparked it.
The initial first responders reported a smell of gas after the blast, but by that time two houses (along with their appliances and probably gas meters) were blown into small pieces. It was logical for there to be broken gas and water lines after the explosion, with live electrical wires strewn about. Scary scene at night.
A very plausible theory.
if there was a gas leak, then the leak would continue after the explosion allowing them to track it. the leak would not go away, it would stay the same or worsen.
Actually, it doesn't even have to be a 'newer house'. More than a few older houses have been tightened up significantly by either a homeowner or a less than entirely competent contractor. The 'best' way to do it is to put a layer of extruded polystyrene foam all the way around the house prior to residing. Installing new windows, which tend to be quite tight, is often done at the same time.
IF the job is done correctly, the house will be mechanically ventilated with an 'Energy Recovery' or 'Heat Recovery' ventilator. This is similar to a bathroom fan but utilizes a heat exchanger design to balance and moderate the temperature of the exchanged air. In other words, cold air coming in is warmed by the heated air being exhausted in the winter, and in the summer the cool conditioned air being vented cools the warm air being drawn in. There is supposed to be roughly 1/3 of the volume of air in the house exchanged every hour. But, naturally, not everyone who insulates and seals their house very well adds one of these, as it is a fair amount of work (some wiring, cutting of drywall, etc.) and the ERV/HRV units themselves are rather spendy.
IF the job is done right, the city inspector will ensure that this is there before signing off on the job. But if you don't apply for and receive a permit to do the work, that inspection isn't going to happen, and it's not like 'drive by' inspections have never happened, either. Especially if the contractor is well established and it's fairly 'safe' for the inspector to sign off on it without actually getting out of the truck to physically conduct an inspection.
If it was a line or connection leak inside, I'd say odds are pretty good that it would WORSEN! The problem is, by that I mean the entire line would be GONE, dashing any real prospect of identifying such a leak.
Is it possible to purchase natural gas that doesn't include mercaptan? Maybe someone had their own tank which leaked into the home.
As for the explosives theory, any explosive worth its boom would've done far more damage to surrounding homes, and that burnt husk of a home you see in the picture would not exist.
I don't believe so. The smell is added at the source and is a government requirement. I remember my father getting some on his pants and boots at a propanator in a refinery. He had to leave his boots outside for two weeks after that. They also wouldn't let him in the instrument shop at the refinery for days after....
One possibility I don't remember seeing mentioned here so far: Propane.
It's supposed to be stored outside so leaks do not accumulate in enclosed spaces, such as basements or closets, but that doesn't stop some people from bringing a 20, 40, or even a 100 pound cylinder inside for whatever the reason. Sometimes it's to keep the cylinder from being stolen, though for that chaining it up isn't exactly hard to do and is strongly preferred over bringing the thing inside!
Another possibility: Acetylene. Even worse, acetylene AND oxygen. I'd feel safer keeping that indoors than propane, honestly. Because of the potential danger of leaks, welding cylinders are extremely well built, and the cost of them reflects that, whereas propane cylinders are more of a consumer product for the many recreational users (outdoor grills, campers, deck heaters, etc.) and while well made, are perhaps being built to a price point these days. What I wouldn't ever want to do is to have a torch setup in the house, say in a basement workshop, and have the thing in use in such a way that only the torch valves are closed but the cylinders are open. Typically this is 'okay' while breaking for lunch or whatever, but it's best not to forget to come back and close the cylinders themselves and that's assuming you're outdoors or in a shed where the worst that is likely to happen is your valuable gasses escape. There are several threaded connections that can leak, and sadly, the grade of hoses commonly sold doesn't last long and will often become leaky within a couple of years.
Every now and then a small 10 cubic foot acetylene cylinder as utilized by technicians and hobbyists (i.e.: for a jeweler's torch) will be left in a car on a hot day. The heat will cause a relief valve to open to protect the cylinder. This, unfortunately, fills the interior of the car with acetylene and opening the door can ignite it when the courtesy light comes on. The result has strongly resembled a car bomb in some instances. You can imagine what a basement or a whole house filled with acetylene or even oxygen and acetylene from a pair of larger cylinders could do.
In my neck of the woods, there is ONE place in the region where acetylene cylinders are filled. It is not done locally! I don't recall precisely where it is done around here, but it's several hundred miles away and the criteria for the location is that there is nothing within over one mile from the facility that does it. There is a reason for that!
I wonder if this will be another story that will fade away and we will never know what really happened. Seems to be a rash of these catastrophic happenings that are initially reported on and then disappear from the public eye.
report circulating in the Kremlin this afternoon released
by the Aerospace
Defence Forces (VKO) states that Kosmos 2479 detected
the firing of two
AGM-114 Hellfire missiles from a MQ-1 Predator drone
yesterday being
operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) over
the United States
city of Indianapolis that resulted in a massive
explosion
Cite a credible source for comments such as this...
just a possible explanation, not confirmed, on the site i saw it on or by anyone else, maybe a journalist could follow up.
November 11, 2012
Massive Explosion Reported After CIA Drone Targets Indianapolis
By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers
[A chilling report circulating in the Kremlin this afternoon released
by the Aerospace Defence Forces (VKO) states that Kosmos 2479 detected
the firing of two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles from a MQ-1 Predator drone
yesterday being operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) over
the United States city of Indianapolis that resulted in a massive
explosion [photo 2nd left], and from local US media reports resulted
in at least two deaths.
Kosmos 2479 is an early warning satellite launched in 2012 as part of
the VKO's Oko programme and monitors the US from geostationary orbit
for all possible threats, including the tracking of American airspace
for US Air Force and CIA fighter jets, bombers and drones.
The CIA's MQ-1 Predator drones, equipped with two fearsome AGM-114
Hellfire missiles.
According to this report, after the firing of these drone-missiles,
two distinct trajectories were recorded which were “near
simultaneously countermanded” by countermeasures employed by an
AN/ALQ-99 airborne electronic warfare system aboard a US Air Force
EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft that had been dispatched
from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to track this CIA drone that had,
apparently, deviated from its assigned flight track.
Most ominous in this VKO report is its stating that the “intended
targets” of these Hellfire missiles were the US Army Resource Services
(PPBES) and the US Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), both
located in Indianapolis, Indiana.
What a load.
The problem I have with this ( among others ) is that the Hellfire is a relatively short range system. If someone where to fly a drone over a city that large and fire a Hellfire, it is exceedingly unlikely that this operation would be missed by EVERYONE in that city, even at night.
People would have ether seen signs of a drone, or more likely the missile exhaust. Even if you make the argument that the drone was at a high enough altitude to not be spotted ( or otherwise detected ) from the ground, it would have been visible to local civilian radar. These drones are by no means invisible to current civilian tech.
In sort, while I would not put it past the government to go after a dangerous terror cell in this fashion, I do think it is unlikely. There would have been far safer ways for civilians to take out a national security target in the area.
Edit: Just noticed that reply up there. No, I don't think it is likely that the C.I.A went after other government installations. Using a drone for this would have been high profile and would not have been the best option for the C.I.A. So I tend to think that report is bunk.. Stranger things have happened though.
I'm surprised it took one hour and twenty minutes for the first conspiracy theorist to weigh in on this. Josh, did they mention in the "article" if this was the US safe house for Bin Laden and this is where he's REALLY hiding?
Well, you just can't make up shlt like that - it has to be true.
It was, after all, on them damn interwebs...they can't lie there...LOL!
The report came from Sorcha Faal...a well known hoax writer. I'ts bull hockey.
Does anyone really believes two AGM-114s can damage 80 homes and cause serious structural damage to over 30 of them? Watch the video of a Hellfire strike on the Wikipedia article for this weapon - a well-placed strike might flatten one home, but the strike in the middle of the street does not appear to have damaged any structure around it.
Hellfire missiles are designed to pierce armor on tanks, not cause huge explosions. This looks more like a large air-burst... like a home filled with natural gas, for example.
Time will tell.
More likely, there was some "Petraeus evidence" that needed taken out or something.
The Air Force does not have EA6 aircraft in their invantory, nor does the CIA have Fighter jets.
The article in a load of crap.
I just read a novel called The 81st Site. It takes place in the 1970s. Some former WWII German soldiers find an abandoned V-1 site hidden in a northern France forest. They launch a V-1 buzz bomb at London using a plane to mask the radar image. They then plan to launch another V-1 but this time carrying a nuclear bomb.
Maybe someone launched a V-1 at Indianapolis? (sarc)
I've heard of houses randomly exploding around where I grew up in southwest Colorado from time to time. A couple of those were caused by methane from underground seeping up into and accumulating under the home. I don't know if this could explain this explosion though.
To be honest, my wife and I discussed this possibility this morning.
My theory was, as I don't know if they use natural gas in that area to heat, and that might be a possibility, if the home was unoccupied and no one noticed a gas leak.
The wife mentioned the KY earthquake and suggested the possibility of it disturbing a gas pocket which vented into the home. That is also a very good possibility as methane is highly explosive, as evidenced by the coal mine explosions.
It will be interesting to see what the investigators determine.
Natural gas or LP
Natural gas or LP (depending on what their furnace used) was the culprit, "Google" the following and see similar explosion: parkers prairie minnesota 1996 fire explosion
I'm sorry but that teachers husband looks like some sort of crazed mad scientist. Was he building some sort of fertilizer bomb in his basement? This had a little more kick then a pipe bomb, but it had to be some sort of man-made explosive device that either accidentally or purposely detonated.
If you were "sorry" you'd respect the pain that these people's families are going through and keep your hateful accusations to yourself.
Natural gas or LP explosion
The dead couple lived there and would have smelled it.
People don't realize their home could be sitting on top of a rotting under ground gas line. As the buried pipes deteriorate from age it is only a matter of time till they blow.
Check with your state government to see if you are at risk. FYI
Where is the CIA's hooker "Broadwell" from? The name "Broadwell" is an excellent choice for a codename, it fits.
If there was no Gas leak then it had to be somebody making a Bomb. Or then again it could have been a Propane tank.
(1) A domestic terrorist or survivalist who had stored massive amounts of ammuniton in his basement.
(2) Alien beings. Is someone out there? No, they've arrived. They are here. Run humans, run. We are here to take over the earth.
Big Black Dog
Unless that "ammunition" included things like C4, Semtex, Nitrolit, Plastite, or PE4, traditional firearms ammunition doesn't "explode" like that.
The most it will do is cook off in a fire and not do much damage unless you're in the very immediate vicinity and get hit.
Has anybody considered a collision with a mini-black hole?
That would totally suck...
If you listen to scientists, there are plenty of opportunities for the charged particles from the sun hitting the outer layers of the atmosphere creating micro-singularities. Problem is, these extremely small black holes tend to evaporate vary vary fast. a small black hole making it to the ground and having enough mass, might explode.. Then again, there is a good chance it would sink to the earths core and eventually consume the planet.
Im thinking it is not a singularity, but if it was, Im not sure if we will ever know for sure. As far as I know, a singularity exploding would not leave much to track down that a civilian agency could detect.
ASTEROID.
METEOR!
COMET!!
SPACE DEBRIS!!!
Ox and acetylene will do this. It goes off just like TNT if the mix is correct. Just like an air burst asteroid or meteor.
Yes it does, but result will be that it's natural gas or LP.
They would have smelled it scotti
the containment vessel of the antimatter reactor failed .
I think half the state would be toast if that where true.
It will be interesting to see how much more info is released after the investigation is complete. While thousands of miles away a foreign country could have a new weapon. No need to mention names.
This was not a weapon, it was natural gas or LP explosion
Natural gas, (methane gas), as it comes out of the ground is odorless, until the gas company adds the leak detection scent.
If this was a gas explosion I would look for the source to be a near-by fracking, coal mining operation, or possibly some natural geological anomaly.
maw
It was, plain and simple: a natural gas or LP explosion. The home filled with it (leak undetected) while family slept, and ignited somehow with violent explosion resulting.
I'd look for the source to be something legitimate not some frivilous fracking claim by someone who knows zero about the location of this explosion in relation to any fracking. (which isn't being done anywhere near this location). No coal mine either Mr conspiracy theorist.
Scottinksi. SHUT UP. I'm pretty sure your point was made 387 posts ago.
This is looking more and more like a gas leak filling up an empty house.
From WISH 8 tv in Indianapolis:
Sources tell 24 Hour News 8 that the couple living in one of the homes that exploded was in Lawrenceburg at the time of the blast.
Monserrate Shirley and Mark Leonard live next door to the couple who died in the blast.
A source, who is in contact with the couple, says Shirley and Leonard were on a casino weekend getaway Saturday night when their home blew up. The source says a family member had complained about smelling gas inside the home but the source was unsure when that complaint was made and whether Citizens gas was notified.
...Monday morning, sources said a meth lab and bomb had both been ruled out as potential causes.
Will you open your eyes and look at the size of the pieces of debris? It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure this out. NO WAY was it natural gas and anyone who overlooks the evidence and puts out that crap is either ignorant or a gov. dweeb. Natural gas explosions dont cut through a wood structure like this. It blows large pieces of walls, doors etc outward. This was a high explosive that did this and I bet there is semtex, C4 or rocket fuel of some kind that is detectable and the local agencies didnt want to say anything about it till they got their orders from the feds. You are looking at another government cover up just like flight 800. If I was in that neighborhood Id ignore the yellow tape and get my own samples.
Sorry, but it's natural gas which can be deadly-dangerous, and not to be taken lightly.
Getmad, Just put you fingers in your ears and keep yelling that everything is a conspiracy. If you yell it loud enough and often enough, others with logical reasoning impairments may voice similar opinions. It can't change reality, but might make you feel better.
You've also posted that you believe TWA 800 and 9/11 are government coverups. Just out of curiosity, is there any conspiracy theory you view as too outlandish to entertain? JFK? Roswell? Faked moon landing? Illuminati? Holocaust never happened? U.S. govt created AIDS to kill gays and/or blacks? Water fluoridation? Govt and/or auto industry suppression of perpetual motion vehicles? Japanese tsunami caused by offshore nuclear bomb? Japanese tsunami caused by Godzilla? Is anything out of bounds?
I wonder if fracking is being done anywhere in the area ?(say a 100-200 mi.radius),............. since it has all ready been proven in contributing to low magnitude earthquakes in in the Midwest,.... who knows,.........
WTHR is reporting at noon that the owner of the home that blew up had been recently told by their daughter that there might have been a problem with the furnace. Investigation ongoing.
It was probably one of two things. Either backed up sewer gas. Or else Karl Rove's head finally exploded. Ok, technically that's only one thing.
Pedro, that was mean.....but very funny.