On April 21 in San Antonio, explosions on Preston Hollow Drive sent two neighborhoods into chaos and left several people injured, including Timothy Nowell, Kimberly Nowell, their teenage daughter, Jose Ochoa, and Mayte Terrie Reeves. The San Antonio Fire Department, CPS Energy crews, and investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, the Texas Railroad Commission, and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration all responded as officials traced the blasts to leaking natural gas in underground distribution lines.
The first blast hit a home in the 15000 block of Preston Hollow Drive at 6:04 p.m., ripping through the house and drawing firefighters within minutes. Timothy Nowell, Kimberly Nowell and their teenage daughter were hurt in that first explosion and treated at the scene. CPS Energy crews arrived shortly after the first fire began to help secure utilities and assess damage. Neighbors described an uneasy quiet after the first fire settled, only to be broken hours later by a second detonation.
KSAT crews on site reported hearing a loud “boom” around 8:30 p.m., and NTSB investigators place the second explosion at about 8:25 p.m. That second blast severely damaged a different house and injured two occupants later identified as Jose Ochoa and Mayte Terrie Reeves. A CPS Energy employee working nearby also suffered injuries during the second event and was treated and released. Firefighters fought the second fire for many hours before the San Antonio Fire Department declared it out late that night.
The NTSB concluded both explosions were driven by natural gas and shifted attention to the local distribution system under the street. Investigators noted the neighborhood used a two-inch diameter high-density polyethylene underground gas main with one-inch polyethylene service lines connecting individual homes. At the time of the incidents the system pressure was about nine pounds per square inch gauge, which is well under the listed maximum operating pressure of 33 psi. That detail helped narrow investigators’ questions to potential installation or material issues rather than overpressure from the main alone.
Those polyethylene pipes had been installed in 1993, leading investigators to treat the age and installation history of the lines as important factors during laboratory tests. About 46 minutes after San Antonio firefighters finished extinguishing the initial fire, a CPS Energy worker found a leak in the service line at the house between the two blasts. Even after that discovery, crews faced delays before isolating and plugging the compromised line; CPS Energy reported they were able to fully isolate the leak around 1:40 a.m. on April 22, hours after the second explosion and roughly five hours after the first flames were reported.
The NTSB sent the leaking section of the service line and a portion of the gas main to its laboratory for detailed analysis, searching for defects, stress fractures, seam failures or installation flaws that could explain both ruptures. Investigators also conducted bar hole testing on April 22 and April 23 with CPS Energy to check for residual gas in the soil and around buried infrastructure. Those field tests revealed additional underground gas near both homes and the property between them, narrowing the likely area of failure without immediately producing a single clear cause.
Multiple agencies worked side by side on the block as the probe continued: CPS Energy, the San Antonio Fire Department, the Texas Railroad Commission and the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration all took part in on-scene work and evidence gathering. NTSB officials said the investigation remained active as analysts reviewed lab results, service records, pressure logs and installation histories. Families and neighbors are coping with injuries and damage while waiting on final technical findings about how natural gas ignited twice on the same street in one evening.
Officials emphasized that the lab work, material testing and review of the distribution system are the next steps toward answers, and that investigators will combine lab science with field evidence to determine what happened. In the meantime, CPS Energy and local first responders continued repairs and safety checks across the affected area in San Antonio. The community remains on alert as agencies coordinate to prevent any repeat and to clarify how a chain of events led to two separate blasts within hours on Preston Hollow Drive.
