Illinois Street house explosion: What we know now

• Firefighters recovered a body in the basement after a home on Illinois Street was obliterated in an explosion Wednesday night.
• The cause of the explosion is unknown but a RG&E crew was called to the scene an hour earlier after a neighbor reported smelling gas.

One person died Wednesday in an explosion that obliterated an Illinois Street home in Rochester and damaged two nearby houses. Rochester fire officials are investigating  but here's more on what we now know:

Intentional explosion

The explosion "was directly and intentionally caused by the deceased, past solo occupant, Randal Jackson," Felipe Hernandez Jr., executive deputy chief of the Rochester Fire Department, said Monday afternoon. Jackson, 50, was the person authorities recovered from the basement.

In working with crews from Rochester Gas & Electric Corp., fire officials determined that the gas service was tampered with inside the house.

"The meter’s pressure regulator was removed from the service gas piping causing free flow of gas into the structure," Hernandez said. "The gas vent piping was also tampered with, as the inside piping fitting area had been stuffed with what appears to be paper towels, possibly to prevent the release of gas and/or odor from inside the house to the exterior."

The house

• The homeowner, Randal Jackson, had been fighting foreclosure for more than a year but ultimately lost the house in a judgment entered this past June, and it was sold at auction last week, records show. Authorities have not confirmed that Jackson was the person recovered from the basement of the dwelling.
• A foreclosure judgement had set the amount owed at $33,383 plus interests and costs. It was not immediately clear what the three-bedroom, single-family house sold for, and how much of the debt remained.
• According to city property records, Jackson purchased the two-story home in 1998.
• Neighbors say Jackson had been holding regular garage sales, apparently of his belongings, in the weeks if not months leading up to the explosion.

The dog

Jackson's dog has been found and is being cared for by a friend, according to Jessica Alaimo, a spokeswoman for the city. The dog was found Friday afternoon tethered up behind the detached garage at 64 Illinois St.

The dog had been missing since the day of the explosion and was initially feared to be in the rubble with Jackson.

It appeared that Jackson placed his dog in a protected area behind the garage before the explosion occurred, Hernandez said.

 When the explosion happened

A fire engine was parked down the street at 7:29 p.m. when firefighters witnessed the explosion at 64 Illinois St.

“That home is completely destroyed,” Rochester Fire Chief Willie Jackson said. “It’s rubble. It’s definitely in many different pieces."

House Explosion:Body found in rubble after explosion levels home on Illinois Street

The explosion leveled the house and heavily damaged the two homes adjacent to 64 Illinois St. Rochester's building services crews will evaluate their integrity.

While the explosion sent debris flying in all directions, no one was injured by that debris, which included pieces of the house and glass.

"It was a pretty powerful blast," Jackson said. "It was felt more than a mile away."

Body found in basement

One body was found inside the basement of 64 Illinois St. 

The man found in the basement was positively identified Monday as the homeowner Randal Jackson. The Monroe County Medical Examiner's Office has not yet completed an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Firefighters said just before the explosion, crews from Rochester Gas & Electric Corp. saw a male inside the residence and were attempting to make contact with the occupant, who did not answer the door.

Odor of natural gas

Crews from RG&E were at the scene before the explosion occurred and had called firefighters to the scene around 7:25 p.m.

Deputy Chief Jim Ryan said the RG&E crews were responding to a report of an odor of natural gas outside 64 Illinois St. Jackson later said that a concerned neighbor had called RG&E about an hour before the blast.

The odor "was so rich and so pungent that they called 911," Jackson said. Emergency dispatchers arrived, and had just parked several properties away, as the house exploded.

Jackson said the RG&E workers were backing away from 64 Illinois St. at the time of the explosion.

It was not immediately known why the explosion occurred. The Rochester Fire Department's Arson Task Force is investigating.

Jackson on Thursday afternoon said that the main gas line for the house was "compromised" and that's "considered suspicious." He declined to share further information since it is an active investigation

Neighbors evacuated

More than 50 firefighters responded to the explosion site. Fourteen homes in total were evacuated in the area. No other injuries were reported.

"It was pretty crazy. It felt like a bomb went off," one neighbor said. "It was pretty scary at first."

A local community association group established a location a block away for neighbors to gather. Red Cross is assisting with any temporary housing needs.

Other damage

The houses on either side of 64 Illinois St. sustained extensive structural damage and will be inspected by the City’s Building Bureau. Jackson said both houses directly next to 64 Illinois St. remain uninhabitable and likely will remain that way for a while.

Several other homes in the area sustained minor damage, such as broken windows.

Past explosions

In February 2016, two elderly Henrietta residents narrowly escaped an explosion that leveled a house and was caused by a broken gas line. No one was injured in the blast that occurred just moments after firefighters arrived at 134 Buckley Place. The two residents had gone outside to wait for emergency responders to arrive after reporting an odor of gas. 

A man died after an explosion leveled a home at 105 Jersey St. in August 1988. The man struck a match after opening a natural gas line in the home, causing an explosion that sparked a three-alarm fire, injured 10 people and sent panic through the neighborhood.

A string of gas explosions and fires ripped through Brighton neighborhoods in September 1951 leaving three dead and dozens with no place to live. The incident was caused by over-pressurization of gas lines and stemmed from a series of mishaps involving RG&E equipment that knocked a regulator offline and increased pressure a hundredfold.

That sent gas surging into countless homes, where errant sparks or flames touched off numerous fires and explosions. Two children, ages 8 and 5, died when their Buckland Avenue home exploded. Another woman who lived on Antlers Drive died of a heart attack

Thirty people were injured in all, 19 homes destroyed and 25 others seriously damaged.