Peco responded to the smell of gas at the Bristol Health & Rehab Center more than two hours before an explosion that killed three people and injured at least 20 others just days before Christmas. Yet in initial findings released Wednesday, federal investigators said the public utility company did not fully stop the gas flow to the facility until an hour and a half after the catastrophic blast.
According to an investigative summary released by the National Transportation Safety Board, a maintenance director at the nursing home reported the odor coming from the basement boiler room around 11 a.m. A technician with Peco responded by 11:50 a.m. and identified the source — a leak in the gas meter valve.
The technician called for backup to assist with the repair, and a meter services technician arrived about 1:20 p.m. The explosion occurred less than an hour later, at 2:15 p.m. A Peco emergency crew fully isolated the gas at 3:50 p.m., as first responders were pulling victims from the rubble.
The NTSB’s initial findings provide the most concrete timeline yet of what happened in the lead-up to the Dec. 23 tragedy that rattled Lower Bucks County and raised questions about the actions of both the public utility company and the nursing home’s operator.
Peco spokesperson Candice Womer said in a statement Wednesday that the company has begun reevaluating response protocols and prioritizing the movement of indoor gas meters to the outdoors, in an effort to meet “the highest standards of safety and reliability.”
The initial findings do not fault or exonerate any parties in the blast, and NTSB officials said the investigation remains ongoing.
Carin O’Donnell, an attorney with Stark & Stark who is representing victims in a lawsuit, said the initial findings demonstrated that Peco gambled with everyone’s safety by not shutting off the flow of gas to the facility sooner.
“Clearly, Peco knew there was a leak, and rather than terminate the gas, they sent their repairmen in while the gas line was still pressurized,” O’Donnell said. “It’s like sending them in with a lit cigarette and a match.”
At least two separate lawsuits alleging negligence have been filed against Peco and Saber Healthcare Group, the Ohio-based nursing home operator that runs the facility.
Residents and staff told The Inquirer they had detected a heavy gas odor inside the 174-bed facility early that morning, yet no building-wide evacuation order was given to residents.
During interviews, NTSB officials heard from people in the facility that the smell could be detected from the basement up to the second floor of the building.
The safety board did not address whether an evacuation should have been done. Investigators noted the Peco foreman and the meter services technician had “had less than 1 year of experience in their current roles.”
Zachary Shamberg, chief of government affairs at Saber, cast the NTSB’s initial findings as exculpatory. He said in a statement that facility staff “acted promptly” while “Peco technicians unsuccessfully attempted to repair their gas line.”
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Peco initially reported arriving at the facility around 2 p.m. and later changed the timeline to “hours” before the blast that occurred just after 2:15 p.m.
First responders encountered chaos. People ran from the partially collapsed nursing home, many bleeding and injured. Police and firefighters helped others escape from the wreckage while contending with a second blast and fire that ignited after the initial explosion.
Two people were pronounced dead in the aftermath of the blast: Muthoni Nduthu, 52, of Bristol, who worked at the facility as a nurse for over a decade, and a resident at the facility whom police identified as Ann Ready. Another resident, 66-year-old Patricia Merro, died two weeks later from her injuries.
The nursing home, previously known as Silver Lake, had been acquired by Saber Healthcare Group and renamed Bristol Health & Rehab Center three weeks before the explosion.
Under the facility’s previous operator, the Cincinnati-based CommuniCare Health Services, the nursing home had been cited repeatedly for substandard care and facility management.
Federal regulators gave the facility a one-star rating, and CommuniCare was fined more than $418,000 in 2024, records show, due to ongoing violations. Two months before the explosion, state inspectors cited the facility for lacking a fire safety plan, failing to maintain extinguishers, and having hallways and doors that could not contain smoke.
A representative for Saber said last month the company had begun addressing those problems after taking over the facility in early December.
After the blast, Peco tested the ground outside the nursing home and detected gas in the ground. The safety board said it continues to analyze physical evidence gathered from the scene and did not provide a timeline on delivering a final report.
