At a Lake Dallas council meeting Wednesday, Atmos Energy officials confirmed a gas leak from an old pipe caused an explosion that significantly injured a woman and displaced others.
The special-called meeting took place almost two weeks after the explosion, which sparked much criticism from residents toward city officials.
Residents complained about a lack of communication and coordination after the explosion.
Most all seats in the council chamber were full with residents, and each frustrated resident鈥檚 remarks were met with a smattering of applause from attendees.
The explosion on March 19 destroyed a home at 620 Moseley St. and hospitalized the resident.
The Lake Cities Fire Department was dispatched to the explosion, structure collapse and fire at about 7:06 p.m.
The blast blew the roof off the home, leveling the walls and trapping a woman beneath the rubble, according to a lawsuit filed against Atmos.
That woman, later identified as Jessica Bailey Lopez, was transported to a landing zone at 501 Swisher Road where she was then airlifted for treatment at a hospital ICU.
After the public comment session, City Manager Luke Olson provided an account of the explosion and responded to some criticisms.
Atmos Energy officials reported they identified a main line gas leak under Wilson Drive just south of Moseley Street and are investigating if it may have contributed to the explosion.
Officials "did not identify any other leaks on our system that could have contributed" to the explosion, Slaughter said.
The exact cause or timing of the leak is yet to be determined, Atmos Energy officials said, and a portion of the pipe was sent to a lab Wednesday for further testing.
鈥淭he isolated leak was on a short section of pipe that was made of material installed in the 1970s by a predecessor company,鈥� said Kyle Slaughter, Atmos Energy鈥檚 vice president of operations. 鈥淧redecessor companies worked to remove this type of pipe from the system. It appears this small section of pipe was not found in that effort and for that reason, we did not know it was there.鈥�
Atmos Energy acquired the gas distribution system in 2004, Slaughter said, and has worked to identify such materials and remove them since then.
鈥淲e are not aware of the presence of it anywhere else in Lake Dallas,鈥� Slaughter said.
Slaughter said Atmos Energy believes the leak under Wilson Drive was an isolated incident and 鈥渘ot reflective of a broader system issue.鈥�
鈥淎 number of homes were evacuated鈥� and Atmos Energy shut off natural gas service to the area, leaving about 350 homes without service, Slaughter said.
Olson reported a majority of residents were able to return to their homes by 3 p.m. on March 20, apart from one home that sustained significant structural damage.
Portions of Moseley Street remained restricted as of Thursday afternoon.
鈥淲e continue to find that the system is performing as expected and operating safely,鈥� Slaughter said Wednesday night.
The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates natural gas pipelines, also continues to investigate the explosion. Commission personnel were not present at the meeting.
Two separate gas line breaks that occurred on March 17 were unrelated to the March 19 explosion, Olson reported.
Lopez sues Atmos Energy
Lopez filed a $1 million lawsuit on March 24 against Atmos Energy.
The lawsuit states that she sustained 鈥渓ife-altering, catastrophic injuries that include extensive, severe burns over her face and body, broken bones, and wounds from blast projectiles.鈥�
The lawsuit accuses Atmos of neglecting and failing to maintain its natural gas line, which leaked and caused gas to migrate into Lopez鈥檚 home, where it ignited and caused the explosion.
She was not a customer of Atmos, according to the suit.
Atmos has been served with the suit but had not filed a response as of Thursday afternoon.
Kelly Biegler, Atmos Energy鈥檚 vice president of public affairs, gave a statement on Wednesday about Lopez and others affected by the explosion .
鈥淲e care very deeply about the safety of every community, including Lake Dallas,鈥� Biegler said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 our highest priority and that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e committed to understanding what happened and taking appropriate action to ensure it doesn鈥檛 happen again.鈥�
Lopez鈥檚 lawsuit states she is lucky to be alive.
Other victims of home explosions related to Atmos Energy have not been so lucky.
In January 2024, a Carrollton resident鈥檚 home exploded. Sergio Valdez filed a lawsuit the following day which stated an Atmos Energy gas line leaked into the pipes of his home and caused an explosion when someone lit a cigarette.
Valdez was hospitalized with severe burns and died weeks later, .
Melinda Gonzales was renting a home on Huntingdon Avenue in Dallas when , in 2021. Her family filed a lawsuit against Atmos Energy for allegedly failing to cap and secure gas lines during maintenance and repairs on her street.
A 12-year-old girl was also killed in a Dallas home explosion in 2018. The National Transportation Safety Board found Atmos Energy responsible for the incident and fined the energy company $1.6 million.
City disaster response complaints
A couple residents who addressed the council thanked the city for their response to the disaster.
Another handful of residents lamented a shortage of communication and direction from the city in the immediate aftermath of the explosion.
People, including elderly and sick residents, were evacuated from their homes 鈥渨ith no information of where to go or what to do,鈥� resident Jonathan Graves said.
鈥淭he city of Lake Dallas failed some of its citizens,鈥� Graves said. 鈥淚 can understand why this event was hard to manage for those in charge, because they had not pre-established plans on how to handle situations like the one that arose two weeks ago.鈥�
Resident Scott Griffin called for the city manager鈥檚 resignation over what he called a pattern of dysfunction.
鈥淵ou routinely ignore legitimate residents鈥� concerns,鈥� Griffin said.鈥� You fail to respond in a timely, professional manner. You slow walk, you block, you do nothing but absolute minimum functionality. While you snooze and check the boxes the residents of Lake Dallas continue to suffer the consequences.鈥�
The city also got flack for canceling the next meeting after the explosion. The city manager explained that it would not have been able to discuss the explosion since the agenda was posted beforehand and they could not deviate from agenda topics.
Olson told residents he is proud of how Lake Dallas and its neighboring agencies came together to respond to the disaster.
Olson also reported Atmos Energy coordinated directly with homeowners to provide hotel accommodations and assistance for residents without gas.
One resident, Wendy Orosco, said Atmos鈥� accommodations weren鈥檛 timely enough.
Orosco鈥檚 neighbors, one of which has stage four cancer, had to evacuate but had nowhere to go.
鈥淭hankfully, the daughter thought to call us and of course we opened our home to them,鈥� Orosco said. 鈥淲e only had the living room to offer and they slept on a sectional, all three of them. [The mother] with stage four cancer had to sleep sitting straight up.鈥�
By the time the family was offered a hotel, Orosco said, they were able to go back to their home.
鈥淭here was no communication until the next day at 2 p.m.,鈥� Orosco said. 鈥淔or those that had been displaced, that was almost 24 hours too late.鈥�
Olson did admit that the city could have done a better job of communicating and getting the contact information of all the evacuated residents for follow ups.
He also said the city could have come up with a centralized location to send evacuees.
Residents also complained of impoliteness from Lake Dallas officers who were evacuating people.
Olson asked residents to give first responders 鈥渁 little grace 鈥� in a very difficult situation,鈥� and remarked that evacuating is sometimes going to be difficult and uncomfortable for people.
The city manager told residents they are working on three or four dedicated locations for any future evacuations, and other disaster procedures.
Resident Christina Watson said she hopes the city looks to other municipalities for guidance on developing an emergency action plan for the future.
鈥淚 hope that they dedicate time at a future council meeting to discuss their emergency action plans with the residents of our city,鈥� Watson said. 鈥淪o that we, the residents of the city, are confident in your ability to navigate us through tough times instead of cowering behind closed doors.鈥�
BROOKE COLOMBO can be reached at 940-566-6882 and bcolombo@dentonrc.com.
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