Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said investigation of the piping and the meters in front of the basement of the Harlem building where an explosion occurred last week will likely start on Sunday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Emergency workers sifted through debris Saturday from the site of a deadly explosion at two New York City apartment buildings as they worked to reach deeper into the basement levels to clear the way for investigators to search for clues that might reveal what caused the blast, the WSJ reported.
The National Transportation Safety Board should be able to start pressure-testing the pipes on Sunday as well, according to the WSJ.
Arson detectives and fire marshals have been waiting to enter the basements to examine meters, check pipes and inspect any possible ignition sources, such as light switches, that might have caused the blast, the WSJ reported.
The theory that the explosion was due to a gas leak gained momentum Friday after the NTSB, which investigates pipeline accidents, said underground tests conducted in the hours after the explosion registered high concentrations of natural gas, according to the WSJ. The NTSB will conduct its own inquiry after police and fire officials determine what might have caused the blast.
Truckloads of scattered material will be sifted for any traces of human remains that might not have been found at the site, the WSJ reported.
The bodies of all eight people reported missing after Wednesday's blast have been recovered and the rescue operation was continuing in case others may be buried beneath the rubble, according to the WSJ.
More than 60 people were injured in the explosion, and more than 100 others were displaced, the WSJ reported.
According to WSJ, police have identified six of those who died: Griselde Camacho, 45, a Hunter College security officer; Carmen Tanco, 67, a dental hygienist who participated in church-sponsored medical missions to Africa and the Caribbean; Andreas Panagopoulos, 43, a musician; Rosaura Hernandez, 22, a restaurant cook from Mexico; George Ameado, 44, a handyman who lived in one of the buildings that collapsed; and Alexis Salas, 22, a restaurant worker.
After touring a Red Cross shelter where some of the displaced residents have been placed temporarily, Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged his support to find suitable temporary or long-term housing options for those displaced, the WSJ reported.
"It's our obligation as the city of New York, and I know all New Yorkers feel this way, to stand by them," de Blasio said, according to the WSJ.
