Pennsylvania Pastor Awed By 'Magnitude' of Destruction

12 February 2011

Five People Die In Allentown Gas Line Explosion Wednesday; Hundreds Evacuated

By Raymond Billy
ResonateNews.com

Five people died and several more were injured after a gas explosion Wednesday in Allentown, Pa. Hundreds of residents were evacuated from nearby homes, many of which were badly damaged or destroyed. Officials from UGI Utilities, Inc., believe a leaky 12-inch main broke, setting off the explosion.

                            Courtesy Photo
The Rev. Donald Stone, pastor of Lehigh Presbyterian Church in Allentown, Pa., was blocks away from a gas explosion there that killed five people.“I've never seen anything close to this magnitude,” said the Rev. Donald Stone, 62, who has lived in Allentown — a city that has endured multiple industrial accidents over the years — since 1982.

Stone, the pastor of Lehigh Valley Presbyterian Church in Allentown, was in his home Wednesday just before 11 p.m. when he was startled by the explosion. The brick home rumbled for a few moments, followed by silence. Then, Stone heard “an avalanche of noise and activity” — horrified residents fleeing the scene, followed quickly by fire engines and ambulances.

Lehigh Valley Presbyterian Church — like Stone's home — is located on 13th Street, mere blocks from the explosion, but was unharmed in the blast. Stone said the church would consider its role in helping the community move forward from the incident in the months ahead.

“We want to be positioned to fill any voids we can,” said Stone, “and take time to let the situation calm down a little before we decide how to move forward. A lot of times after traumatic events like this, once the shock wears off, people forget about what happened and a lot of human and civic needs go unmet.”

Allentown — located in eastern Pennsylvania near the New Jersey border — is not unaccustomed to industrial accidents, particularly where the gas industry is concerned. The city of about 110,000 residents has had numerous gas-related explosions during the previous two decades resulting in several deaths and scores of injuries.

The dead in Wednesday's incident have been identified as 4-month-old Matthew Vega; Katherine Cruz, 16; William Hall, 79; Ofelia Ben, 69, and another female yet to be identified. Stone expressed sorrow for those who died, but did not proffer a theological explanation for what occurred.

“I don't even attempt make sense of tragedy. It's totally beyond me to grasp,” he said, adding that such events do not cause him to question God's love and faithfulness.

Stone said that even with Allentown's grim history of utilities incidents — which have taken place amid aging infrastructure — he is not concerned for his safety or that of his wife, Stacy. He said he entrusts his family's protection to God's sovereign will.

“I recognize that I have no control over this,” he said.

Stone also said he is confident that UGI was doing its part to repair old gas lines. Rather than assigning blame, Stone said his focus was determining what his congregation could do to bring healing to the community.

“We definitely want to see how we can respond to this,” he said.