Perry Township adjusts after blast

GREENWOOD, Ind. — At dawn Tuesday, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officer Dwight Tripp sat quietly in his squad car at the entrance of the Richmond Hill subdivision, at the intersection of Towhees and South Sherman drives. Two other metropolitan patrol cars parked behind him. Contractors and investigators were expected to make regular visits to the explosion site throughout the afternoon, and residents were being granted access to their homes to retrieve salvageable items, he said.

Only about a block southeast of the neighborhood entrance, the remains of various residences on Fieldfare Way were in ruins. At about 11 p.m. Saturday, a colossal explosion leveled 8355 Fieldfare Way, once home to Jennifer Longworth, 36, and her husband John Longworth, 34.

Both were killed in the blast, their bodies identified by the police. The house of Monseratte Shirley, 47, who lived next door to the Longworths, is believed to be the epicenter of the explosion, according to the Associated Press.

The explosion, perhaps a lethal combination of a faulty furnace and natural gas, destroyed multiple homes in the immediate area and severely damaged others. The official cause of the explosion was still unknown as of Tuesday afternoon.

Back at the entrance of the neighborhood Tuesday, a tan SUV raced to the opening of the subdivision. Passing the police cars, the vehicle came to a halt at the intersection. A yellow school bus from the Metropolitan School District of Perry Township stopped at the same intersection.

The woman driving the car honked repeatedly as if to attract the attention of the bus driver.

A young girl, about 10 years old, leaped from the front passenger seat and slammed the car door, clutching her backpack around her shoulders.

She scurried onto the bus — close call.

Since Monday, school buses carting students to and from Perry Township elementary, middle and high schools have been forced to reroute due to restricted access to Richmond Hill, said Paula Clegg, communication coordinator for the Metropolitan Schools of Perry Township.

“It’s just been a ripple effect on that whole neighborhood,” she said.

At least 32 students were displaced from their homes in the neighborhood as a result of the explosion, she said.

“We’ve had to do some sort of rearranging because nobody is granted access,” Clegg said.

Dave and Cindy Grenoble live about two miles from the ghostland that was once a thriving urban neighborhood — close enough to be waken up the moment the blast occurred. Their grown daughter, Andrea and her husband, Ryan, live on Fieldfare Way with two children, Christopher and Haley. The family’s home sustained severe structural damage in the explosion.

Since the blast, their family has been living with other family members. The kids have yet to return to school at Southport Middle School where Christopher, an active baseball player, is an eighth grader and Haley, a sixth grader, participates with a local swim team.

“It’s going to be about what happens in the next two weeks and trying to get back to a normal life,” Dave said. “Their house, right now, they can’t go in. They’re five streets down from the blast.”

“Five houses,” his wife corrected him.

Cindy said their daughter is living “second by second.”

“It’ll be interesting to see three or four weeks from now,” Dave said. “The one thing I’ve heard over and over again — that could’ve been anybody’s neighborhood.”

Christopher and Haley, are currently without school uniforms, supplies and backpacks. With the family’s car trapped on the inside of a buckled garage door, they are left to depend on family members, like Dave and Cindy, to ensure they are transported from place to place. The kids haven’t seen their own bedrooms in at least three days.

“All the memorabilia, the trophies — my grandson had his room fixed the way he wanted it,” Dave said. “And now they have to start all over again.”

Dave said he figures most of the homes in the neighborhood were damaged as a result of the blast. Some will have to be torn down, and others are in need of siding, new windows or both.

“It’s going to be a very, very long 12 months in that community,” he said.