Small Town News

Community, responders reflect following deadly blast

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Northwesten Energy continuing investigation of aug.23 explosion

Park Street has had its share of scary moments over the past few years.

The street was the scene of a chlorine leak at the Menno Swimming Pool that sickened local swimmers in 2004 and an alleged tornado that ripped trees and house roofs apart in the summer of 2009.

Last week, a house explosion on Park Street took the life of 56-year-old Gail Guthmiller and sent two others to the hospital Monday night, Aug. 23. Reports indicate a natural gas leak caused the explosion, though the investigation is ongoing, according to officials.

The remains of the home still rest at 115 Park Street, between two other homes seriously damaged by the concussion of the blast. But the destruction doesn't stop just at the adjacent houses. Other local residents and emergency responders say the shock of the sudden and violent explosion will take some time to wear off.

John Huber was at his home across town on the east side of Menno sleeping around 10:30 p.m. when a sound ripped through the night.

"I was in bed already, and I sat right up. The dog started barking, the kid started crying, and I knew something bad must have happened, " Huber, chief of the Menno Fire Department, said. "It was the loudest bang I think I've ever heard."

The sound thundered through Menno and could be heard by some people as far away as Yankton. Huber said he immediately began to gather his things and to head out to whatever scene awaited him and other first responders.

He said the call came over the radio almost immediately after he heard the explosion.

"We were over there in a hurry,

but you don't know what to expect when you pull up to something like that. It was a total disaster, that's for sure, " Huber said.

Guthmiller's house had been leveled by an explosion with enough

force to hurl hunks of concrete weighing hundreds of pounds into the air and back down through the roofs of neighboring buildings. A garage that sat on the lot just to the south of the housse had also been

destroyed in the blast and contents of the home were scattered around the lot, mixed with debris from the house.

Huber said the chaos at the scene was tempered by an instinctual

need to get the situation under control. He noted there was very little actual fire to tend with as the blast from the explosion had put most of it out.

"There was hardly any fire at all.

I would be surprised if we even put 500 gallons (of water) on it, " Huber said. "After that, we focused on getting the electrical and gas shut off, but of course first and foremost is seeing how many we have hurt."

Huber said the explosion brought out the Menno Fire Department in full force, and ambulances from Freeman and law enforcement from surrounding communities arrived to help set up a perimeter to assist with crowd control.

Marsha Schelske, a local Emergency Medical Technician who lives two houses south of Guthmiller, had as close a view to the tragedy as anyone. She was at home with members of her family at the time of the incident. Like most in the community, the shock of the situation was most unexpected.

"It was a very loud, totally unexpected, huge boom, " Schelske said of her reaction when the house exploded. "I was between the kitchen and the dining room and the windows lit up with this orange glow."

Schelske said she first thought the glow and boom were a lightning strike. She ran out the door as her husband, Gary, dialed 911, and quickly realized the situation was far more devastating than a single lightning strike.

"Going down the street there was still enough fire, still enough light from what was burning that I could see there was nothing left, " Schelske said.

The explosion had thrown large pieces of concrete and brick into the air in all directions. Debris rained down throughout the neighborhood, with several chunks coming down through the roof of the Aisenbrey-Kostel Funeral Home just to the north of the Guthmiller home. The house directly to the

south of the Guthmiller home, and directly north of Schelske's home, was also heavily damaged in the blast.

Schelske said her home got off easy compared to the direct neighbors, but the blast still did damage.

"Right now we have eight windows that are blown out and some structural damage. An engineer came this morning and he said it was repairable, to what extent we'll see, " Schelske said.

Like Huber, Schelske said the accident scene was chaotic, with concerned neighbors and friends gathering near the home. Schelske said preventing further injury was a top priority for all the responders.

"We had some people who were way too close. If there had been a secondary explosion (it could have been deadly.) It was bad enough that we were there, " Schelske said.

Like many others in Menno that night, Darrell Mehlhaf knew something big had happened when he heard the explosion.

"I told my wife right away that a house blew up, " said Mehlhaf, mayor of the city of Menno. "I was getting dressed before the tones went off. And then they went off."

Mehlhaf headed to the scene and witnessed the response of the Men-no Fire Department and Menno Ambulance first-hand, something he said that impressed him.

"(The response) was probably the best I've ever seen. I think everybody was awake before the tones went off, " Mehlhaf said.

Later that week, Mehlhaf examined some of the rubble as South Dakota prison inmates helped clean up debris in the neighborhood. He noted some wire mesh used to stabilize plaster in house walls and how the plaster seemed to have been pulverized off the mesh. The concussion from the blast seems to have turned that plaster to powder, he said.

The power of the explosion was staggering, he said.

"I talked to people in Maxwell Colony and they said it rattled the windows out there. That's how devastating it was, " said Mehlhaf, who added another Menno-area resident heard the explosion while sitting next to a camp fire in Yankton. "It was huge."

And it was costly. Guthmiller, a Menno native, had recently returned to the community to help care for her parents. In addition to her neighborhood on Park Street, her death leaves a hole at several locations around town, including her jobs at the Menno Post Office, Heritage Pharmacy and Park Street.

Schelske knew Guthmiller as both a neighbor and an acquaintance around town and said it will

not be the same without her.

"She was a super good-hearted lady. Very bubbly. I don't think she ever said a cross word. She was always in an upbeat mood, " Shelske said.

Similar comments about Guthmiller were echoed around Menno last week in conversation and through the media.

Brenda Iwan, postmaster for Menno, said Guthmiller had worked at the post office since January of 2009 working shifts on Saturdays and whenever Iwan needed a break. She became a valuable addition to the staff in just a short time, Iwan said.

"She was wonderful with customers. She really did a great job, " Iwan said.

A funeral service for Guthmiller was held Saturday, Aug. 28 at Im-manuel Lutheran Church in Men-no.

Two others in nearby homes were injured in the explosion.

Aftermath

The week that followed the explosion was a time of disbelief and a search for answers.

Numerous agencies worked on various investigations throughout the week. Huber said the State Fire Marshall completed his report and attributed the cause of the explosion to natural gas.

The house, like others in Menno, is provided natural gas service through NorthWestern Energy. The company has had a high profile presence in Menno since the blast, with servicemen helping conduct tests for the company to help get to the bottom of the incident.

"People are probably going to notice some of our NorthWestern Energy folks in town. When something like this happens, you have to shut off the gas and electricity. There's going to be some cleanup work, " said Tom Glanzer, a spokesman for NorthWestern Energy.

As the company continues with those procedures, it's always looking for more information and cooperating with other investigations.

"We're still involved in the ongoing investigation. There are some other parties that are doing investigations as well, but we're continuing to work with the city and others, " said Tom Glanzer, a spokesman for NorthWestern Energy Glanzer said NorthWestern technicians conducted tests on the soil leading up to the Guthmiller home and found the levels to be normal. At the same time, research indicated that Guthmiller's house had used far more natural gas for late summer than would be considered normal. The same phenomena apparently occurred at a home that

exploded in Mitchell last week, Glanzer said.

Glanzer said he wouldn't speculate as to whether or not the excessive gas usage was directly related to the explosion, but said those were the kinds of numbers and information the company pores over when examining a situation like this.

As NorthWestern and the insurance companies continue their investigation, members of the Menno community are trying to get their lives back in order. Besides the obvious physical destruction at the accident site, the mental health of the first responders is being addressed.

A meeting to help first-responders deal with the mental strain of dealing with such a shocking, sudden disaster is expected to take place soon, Schelske said.

"We're encouraging everyone who was on-scene to make an appearance. We want to get to it before it gets to the point where they're totally stressed out by it, " said Schelske, who also admitted she may still be in shock from the incident.

Huber agreed that emergency crews who responded to the event may benefit from a form of debriefing.

"We're bringing in the Critical Incident Street Debriefing Team to help us more or less cope with things, " Huber said.

That meeting is for emergency personnel only, but another public meeting will take place next month, when NorthWestern officials will hold a town hall style meeting where they explain their natural gas system, safety procedures as well as a question and answer session. A date has been tentatively scheduled for Sept. 21.

"Unfortunately, it takes a disaster to get this kind of dialog going, " Glanzer said. If there is one thing that could come out of this as a legacy, that would be the awareness of what to do when you smell gas in your house."

Glanzer said the bottom line, when you smell the notorious "rotten egg" smell, is get out of the house immediately and call 911.

Glanzer also said customers should always feel they can err on the side of caution. Calling NorthWestern about a suspicious smell or other concerns costs the customer nothing. It's a free service to their customers, Glahzef said, and should not be a deciding factor on whether or not a call is made.

"It doesn't cost anything. It's completely free. That would be the last thing we want people concerned about. Call us and we'll put our equipment to the test, " Glanzer said.



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© 2011 Hutchinson Herald Menno, South Dakota. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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