Residents still waiting after explosion

LAFAYETTE -- Families evacuated after a series of natural gas explosions that destroyed four nearby homes may not be allowed to return to the neighborhood until early this week.\nResidents of five homes near those damaged by Wednesday's blasts cannot return until gas and electricity are turned on again, said Randy Keen, an inspector with the Lafayette Fire Department. About a dozen families dislocated by the blasts were staying with family or in hotels during the holiday weekend.\nMeanwhile, work crews were attempting to reduce the lingering gas to a safe level.\n"We're trying to purge the area of all the gas," said Mike Roeder, a spokesman for Vectren, the utility that supplies gas to the city northwest of Indianapolis. "We're wanting to get a safe level of gas, which is basically next to nothing," he said.\nFire investigators allowed families to return home briefly Thursday to retrieve some of their possessions.\nKeen said it may never be known what sparked the gas explosions, which slightly injured four people.\n"A number of things could have sparked it -- a hot water heater, a furnace, anything. It could have even been a spark from a telephone call," he said.\nFour explosions rocked the residential area east of downtown Lafayette from late Wednesday morning to early afternoon after a construction crew installing a traffic signal damaged a gas line. Gas then built up in several homes, leading to the explosions.\n"If they're going to be digging, they should know exactly where they're digging at," said 24-year-old Delaney Harris, who firefighters rescued along with his 11-month-old daughter from their basement after one of the blasts.\nHarris, who had been taking a nap on the couch with his daughter, Aaliyah Ware, shielded her with his body while rubble rained through the living room. They ended up in the basement, and firefighters said later they were amazed the pair wasn't seriously injured.