BATH

Questions are being raised about how property managers responded to a gas leak that preceded a fatal explosion at a Bath duplex Tuesday.

Dale Ann Fussell, 64, was killed when the Atlantic Townhouse Apartments duplex she rented at 29-31 Bluff Road exploded and burned to the ground early Tuesday.

The blast was caused by leaks in a gas line connecting the duplex to an outside propane tank, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said Wednesday, citing an investigation by the state fire marshal. 

State fire investigators determined the leak was in an outside wall of the building. Fumes likely seeped down into a crawl space and then were ignited by an unknown source, according to McCausland. 

The ensuing explosion leveled the duplex. Fussell’s body was found in the rubble.

A friend of Fussell, Vera Darling, told The Times Record this week that Fussell had complained of smelling gas for weeks. That prompted property managers to install a Monitor heating device, according to Darling.

Danielle Pinette, property manager for Keystone Management, declined comment on the cause of the explosion Thursday. “We’re still investigating,” Pinette said. “That’s all I can say.”

Efforts to follow up with Pinette were unsuccessful today.

“I think we’ve have enough publicity — thank you anyway,” a respondent said before hanging up the phone.

Brad Clement, outside contractor for Keystone Management, declined to disclose whether Fussell had complained about gas fumes or — if so — whether any new equipment, including a Monitor, had been installed as a remedy.

According to the manufacturer’s website, Monitor heaters run on propane and are to be used as supplemental heat in spaces up to 800 square feet.

“All Monitor heaters (use) a sealed combustion unit that uses outside air for combustion and sends all exhaust outside. Monitor … uses the smallest pipe in the industry to ensure steady comfortable heat with no fumes,” the website says.

Installation of a supplemental Monitor heater would have required tapping the building’s existing propane tanks, according to installers knowledgeable about Monitor heaters. 

Clement said Thursday that questions about the cause of the explosion were “beating a dead horse.” 

“Those (gas) lines are fine,” he said.

It is up to the person who installs a propane system whether or not to inspect it, Clement said.

He said the propane heaters at the razed duplex were originally installed by “Tim Peppers.” 

A search of propane heating installers throughout Maine yielded a Peppers Plumbing Heating & Air Conditioning of Gorham. Calls to that business were unanswered Thursday. 

State licensing records show a Timothy R. Peppers abandoned his license to install propane heaters in 2007. His license was in good standing at the time, with no safety infractions or disciplinary measures. 

City officials say it’s likely the heater at 29-31 Bluff Road was installed prior to 2007, while Peppers would have still been licensed.

Meanwhile, a Portland law firm representing Fussell’s family served notice with property owner Atlantic Townhouse Apartments, property manager Keystone Management and propane supplier Irving Oil that a formal lawsuit is imminent.

The family wants to make sure, Garmey said, that they find out why the accident happened, and that it won’t happen to someone else.

“We’re rolling up our sleeves to get to the bottom of this, and we will,” Terry Garmey of Terry Garmey & Associates said Friday. “When somebody dies in their home in an explosion of this nature, you believe that this is not the way life should end.” 

Garmey said he will meet with the family on Monday.

“We believe the Monitor heater was replaced the night before,” Garmey said. “She had complained of problems with the heater.”

Garmey said propane is a dangerous fuel when not used correctly.

Propane companies add odor to the gas for a reason, Garmey said, and Fussell reported smelling something.

“How does this happen in this day and age?” he asked. “This was a bomb in the middle of a city.”

The state Fire Marshal’s Office has determined that escaped gas from a broken pipe built up along the exterior walls of the adjacent apartment. 

State Fire Marshal Joe Thomas said the leak that developed between the walls would

have sunk into the crawl space, which was continuous beneath both apartments. 

Last week’s two-foot snowstorm could have sealed off the crawl space and allowed gas to accumulate before something ignited it, investigators say.

Bath Fire Chief Stephen Hinds said all testing on site is complete, and everything taken from the property is being tested by state officials in Augusta.

“The property’s been turned back to the property owners,” he said.

Bath Code Enforcement Officer Scott Davis said he has fielded no complaints about gas fumes from residents of the large housing complex. 

Neither has Davis heard anything from investigators, he said.

“Maybe they’ll never really know, when you get a pile of rubble like that,” he said. “But maybe we’ll find out something to prevent it from happening again.”

Thousands of Mainers who heat with propane have no reason to panic, Davis said.

“If you compare the amount of problems that we have to the amount of installation in place, it’s not time to start panicking,” he said.

Funeral services are scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the United Church of Christ in Bath, followed by a Neighborhood Cafe meal in Fussell’s memory from, 5 to 6 p.m.

Fussell was a volunteer at the Neighborhood Cafe, which serves the hungry.