Mayor: Gas smelled before before NJ home exploded, but no one reported it

There was a smell of gas around the house that exploded in Elizabeth Wednesday, but no one notified the gas company or police to report it according to Elizabth Mayor Chris Bollwage.

At a press conference in front of the home on Magnolia Street where the home is in the process of being torn down, Bollwage, who blamed the explosion on a breach in the gas line, said there are a lot of discrepancies in what neighbors, tenants and Elizabethtown Gas have said about events leading to the morning of the explosion.

Bollwage said a gas crew was at the home on Monday to turn on the gas but found it was already turned on.

Elizabethtown Gas said in a statement Friday it sent a technician to 1035 Magnolia Avenue to turn on the gas, but found it was already on. The technician confirmed the equipment was operating safely, the company said. No leak was reported, and he found no evidence of a leak at the time, the company said. The technician also wasn't aware of the alleged illegal apartment on the first floor, it said.

Investigators have also found that a conversion of the home's first floor was done without a permit, with electricity and gas coming from a different source than the rest of the home. which Bollwage said he believes is a crime.

Bollwage said a total of seven homes were damaged by the explosion, with at least two that will need to be torn down.

A resident of the second floor, 24-year-old Femi Brown,. was killed in the blast; another15 people were injured. The mayor also said there were thre dogs injured in the explosion.