The National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the explosion in downtown Youngstown shows multiple mistakes were made before the deadly gas explosion that killed one and injured nine on May 28, 2024.

The NTSB dropped 54 documents regarding its investigation into the explosion on Wednesday afternoon.

The reports give new context to the limited information previously released regarding the gas explosion after third-party workers cut into an active gas line under the sidewalk of the Realty Building.

Some of the new highlights include that, according to the report, Youngstown Deputy Director of Public Works Chuck Shasho had had several meetings with the owner of GreenHeart, Brian Angelli, along with other city officials and the city's project architect. The last meeting was on May 7, 2024, in the basement of the Realty Building.

New Details

The report noted that "there were no discussions about the existing gas pipe in the vault/basement. [Shasho] saw that there was no meter attached and assumed it was not active.

That inside meter in the basement had been removed on June 8, 2008, after a customer service representative said the customer wanted the manifold moved outside for a building remodeling project. The customer service representative was responsible for completing the work and updating the work order in the system. The NTSB investigators have no record of a work order to locate and turn off the gas at the curb in response to the instructions.

Enbridge Inc. purchased EG-Ohio, a local gas distribution company, in March of 2024. Between 2000 and March 2024, EG-Ohio was owned by Dominion Energy and operated as Dominion Energy Ohio.

Youngstown paid GreenHeart $140,133 to remove or relocate utilities as part of the Smart 2 project.

The report indicates that GreenHeart did not contact Enbridge Gas Ohio about removing the pipelines.

According to the Group Chair's Factual Report on Human Performance and System Safety, the Director of Gas Operations for Enbridge Gas told investigators that Enbridge was not notified of the work to be done inside the Realty Tower building.

She told investigators, “There was no communication from the City of Youngstown, the contractor (GreenHeart), or the Realty Tower building owner(s) to Enbridge Gas Ohio.”

The report states that the building owner was under the impression that the gas pipe in the basement was abandoned and could be left in place to be covered by grout. Angelilli told the NTSB that the utilities were marked on the drawings and were fairly easy to see. He said he had directed his site supervisor to get an independent third-party to clean up the debris in the vault/basement area, including cutting off and removing any remaining pipes and cables.

The site supervisor told the NTSB that they were assigned to the project a couple of weeks before the work was to be done and not 'intimately involved with the vault/basement fill.'

The project architect told the NTSB investigators that Angelilli said the gas line was not serving the Realty building and also said there was no discussion about the gas pipe being pressurized (and active) or abandoned.

Day of the Explosion

On the afternoon of May 28, the day of the explosion, the site superintendent arrived at 7:30 am and outlined the project to the three third-party workers and one scrapper. The superintendent was under the impression that all utilities, including the gas line, were abandoned and to be removed.

The superintendent left for another project and returned around 12:30 pm to see how the project was coming along, as the project was behind schedule. He then left again for work at the Gallagher Building.

The workers cut AT&T cables and pipes and carried the materials outside to a truck for scraping. The scraper was not typically paid for his work, but he estimated he would get approximately $100 for the materials being taken from the building.

The scrapper was on a ladder while two of the third-party workers held the ladder for him while he used a reciprocating saw on the gas pipeline. On his third cut into the pipe, he heard a 'loud whistling and had gas blowing in his face.' They encountered the other worker as they were evacuating the building. One laborer pulled the fire alarm. Another the laborer notified bank employees while another called 911.

The site superintendent at the Gallagher building was notified of the gas leak and he called Enbridge. The NTSB asked the gas company if it could provide records when the leak was reported. A document attached in the NTSB report shows 'Yorktown Ohio.'

The Director of Gas Operations for Enbridge told the NTSB investigators that they were not notified of the work being done inside the building and that there was 'no communication from the City of Youngstown, the contractor (GreenHeart) or the Realty Tower building owner/s (Angelilli)' to the gas company.

The director also said that Enbridge's practice is to sever the service line from the main pipeline. However, NTSB investigators found the curb stop, a valve to stop gas flow, was in the open position and not severed from the main pipeline.

The director told investigators that when the meter was removed in 2008, the curb stop should have been closed. A new state regulation will require that beginning August 2025, inactive lines be disconnected or severed after three years of inactive status.

A note from when the meter was removed in 2008 indicated that a gas worker within the C&M department was to locate and turn off the curb valve, but investigators stated there were no records or evidence to indicate that happened.

A manual entry that appeared on September 15, 2015, in the system indicated that the curb valve was closed and the service was cut from the main pipeline and was abandoned.'

You may recall one of the major hindrances to rescue operations included a lengthy delay before First Energy turned off electricity to the building, despite a 911 dispatcher repeatedly telling the company that there were people trapped inside the basement as it filled with water who could not be accessed while electricity was active. 

First Energy declined to speak to the NTSB in person, instead insisting through legal counsel that they see questions in advance and provide written answers. 

In the course of those answers, First Energy acknowledges that the first call to turn off the service came at 3:15 p.m., but that it wasn't until 6:25 p.m. that the service was turned off. 

In the meantime, the water had risen to "waist high" by 3:20 p.m.

The company described a protocol whereby they would dispatch a "trouble man" to arrive first on scene, but that in this case, that was an employee whose expertise was in overhead lines, so he did not enter the building or even stop at the scene. The first First Energy employee did not arrive on scene until 5:13 p.m. 

Further, while First Energy employees do receive emergency training, that training did not expressly cover coordination with incident commanders, nor was there any protocol for gas line explosions. 

The NTSB report also details several problems with emergency response, including difficulty keeping track of how many employees were inside the Chase building, with first responders initially being told there were only six employees inside, but then revising that number to seven and then to eight. 

These efforts were further complicated by a lack of coordinated communication among first responders, due to the Youngstown police department using a digital radio system that was designed to obscure more scanner traffic, but also led to some incompatibility with other crews on scene. This left dispatcher unable to communicate directly with units on scene during search and rescue operations. 

The fire alarms inside the building were so loud firefighters were often unable to hear each other or victims who were calling out for help. 

The documents also provide some new information about what led to the death of Chase employee Akil Drake. According to an inspection of the building after the explosion, it was discovered the floor inside the bank was built partially overtop of a "void" area, meaning empty vault space, and had not been properly secured, leading to the floor collapsing into the basement at the time of the explosion. Drake had been standing over that portion and was killed when he fell into the basement and was crushed. 

Employees of the Chase bank were also not able to hear the fire alarms that were going off in other parts of the building, since the bank had its own separate system that had not been manually activated.

Site and Job Concerns

The docket also shows a bit of blame-shifting among Greenheart owner Brian Angellili, Youngstown deputy director of public works Chuck Shasho and the subcontractors who were actually working in the basement. 

In an interview with Shasho, he acknowledged that the gas line that was cut fell under the city's right-of-way, tying the work to the larger "SMART 2" road project downtown.

"As the project progressed and we negotiated the contractor to come back to work while we separately addressed the conditions of the basements because they were in the public right of way, our goal was to remove that occupied space in the public right of way as much as possible," Shasho told investigators. 

Still, Shasho clarified that he believes it would have been the contractor's responsibility to check utility lines. 

"....we were not necessarily worried if there was an abandoned pipe that would get filled, it was not necessary to be removed and we did not ever direct anyone to remove any specific pipes, only was was necessary to be accessed as far as the building owner is concerned," Shasho said. 

However, he admitted that there had been very little discussion about whether or not the pipe in question should have been checked. Shasho said there was no meter in place, only an old meter bar. 

"Even if there's no meter, I think it was a reasonable assumption that the gas company doesn't generally let you have free gas," Shasho said, clarifying that he did not assume the line wasn't pressurized on his own, but rather that the "consensus" reached was that it was not servicing the building. 

"....it was just kind of looked at, okay, there's no meter, move on." 

When asked point blank whose responsibility it would be to check to see if the line was pressurized, Shasho said it would be the contractor, especially because the city never actually entered into a contract with Greenheart. 

"It depends, every job is different, but in this particular job, we didn't have a formal bid on it.......they were required to coordinate with the utility for removals," Shasho said. 

Notable was when Shasho was asked directly what could be improved in the future, he avoided any direct responsibility. 

"I would say better utility coordination," he said. When asked to elaborate, he said: "Just better communication between the utility owners and the contractor." 

Building owner Brian Angellili, who is also the owner of Greenheart, described difficulties in hiring workers as the reason he has relied heavily on subcontractors in recent years. 

"I know you guys hear it, you know, the workforce, the ability to get guys, it's...it's real in Youngstown," Angellili said. 

Angelilli denied any knowledge that the gas line would be cut by the subcontractors he hired. 

"And in regard to the gas line, I really didn't, I didn't, I didn't award it, I wasn't planning on doing anything with it other than if you would see it, it was, you know, to us, when we walked through with the city and the architects, we passed it, everybody was just basically under the impression that it was in the master filed, you know. It barely came up in conversation. To the best of my knowledge, somebody said, yeah, this is, you know, a dead line," he said. 

Angelilli said his company has policies regarding contacting utilities, but did not call in this case. 

"So you know, I didn't call for a line marking or anything because there was nothing to mark, I mean, I knew where it was and again, you know, my understanding, it was abandoned and I just, as I worked through the project slowly, I didn't pay to much attention to it at all," he said. 

He went on to say that he would have involved a licensed professional had he known the gas line was pressurized. 

"Unfortunately, I think that word 'abandoned' just kind of carried through, I mean, just kind of moved its way through the people that were working there and it was.....passed along," Angelilli said.

The Workers

The report also includes the first time we're hearing directly from the subcontractors who were working in the basement. 

Edward Bean and Taylor Botsford, both former inmates who were staying at a sober house in Youngstown, described their working relationship with Marcel Williams, described as a "scrapper," for Greenheart. 

"I was looking for any kind of work to get myself going, get established, get out of the Carter House and into a good living arrangement," Bean told investigators. 

Talking about the type of work they were doing, Bean acknowledged having no expertise in utilities and that their role was primarily to haul scrap out for profit. 

"Man I wish I knew all of the ins and outs of this so we could prevent it from happening again, but like I said, I have no clue what any of this....piping means. So that's probably a good reason why I didn't even touch it right here..." Bean said. 

Still, Bean said he had faith in the safety of the operation. 

"I trust Marcel, but your gut instinct would say like, hey, damn, like I don't even know what I'm doing, like hey, but they're telling me to go cut it down and I'm assuming, I've watched Marcel in jobs, he's safe," Bean said. 

Botsford clarified that it was Williams who cut the line, however. 

"But we weren't doing the cutting, the only person that was cutting was Marcel, we were just carrying, but I was observing, too," Botsford said. 

The two discussed how the explosion has affected them, describing a resident and her infant being the last people to get out of the building. 

"But I'm really distraught about that, man, like, that little baby and that mom, dude, I'm waking up at night right now, like in, like wow, like that baby could've lost her life or his life, I don't know, she could've lost her life and I was just trying to do the right thing," Bean said. 

"I pretty much cried for two days and slept for two days after the incident," Botsford said. 

Here is a link to NTSB documents and investigation.