BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[explosion]](/editions/1998/10/28/explode_200x125.jpg)
Firefighters douse a house explosion on Veazey Avenue in Westwood.
(Glenn Hartong photo)
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The morning after neighbors called Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. to complain of a natural-gas smell, a gas explosion threw Phyllis Evans from her second-floor bedroom to her front yard and leveled her Westwood home.
The explosion left the 76-year-old woman in serious condition in the burns unit at University Hospital.
It made heroes of a Boy Scout and a neighbor across the street on Veazey Avenue who helped her out of the flames.
It had neighbors wondering why CG&E crews never found a leak in the area after residents complained of the gas smell the night before.
And it left Mrs. Evans' best friends praying for her recovery.
![[neighbor]](/editions/1998/10/28/neighbor_120x188.jpg)
A neighbor, Christy Sabin, reacts.
(Glenn Hartong photo)
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"She's a real strong lady," said Ron Bevis, 44, who was watching television across the street when he heard the explosion about 10:10 a.m.
"Her hair was on fire," he said. "She said she was upstairs. . . . It must have blown her down. I grabbed a shower curtain or something and put her hair out."
Allen Leming, 15, a Boy Scout and Dater Junior High student, was walking down the street about the same time when he saw the scene. She kept saying, "Help me!" he said.
Her best friends rushed outside upon hearing the blast.
"I was in the kitchen about to put a cake in the oven," said Helen Berger, who lives across the street. "I heard the explosion and looked out my window and saw birds taking off from the tree next door. I took off my apron and ran out and saw them lay Phyllis on the grass."
Frances Bartlett rushed to her friend's side and saw her charred hair. The jogging pants Mrs. Evans wore to her exercise class at church that morning looked melted to her legs, she said, and her blond hair was ashen.
"I said, "Phyllis, do you know what happened?'
"She said, "No, Frances, I don't,' " Mrs. Bartlett recalled. "I said, "Are you in pain?' She said, "Yes.' "
Fire investigators have not yet determined what caused the explosion. Fire crews remained on the scene all day searching through the debris.
If the explosion started from a gas leak at Mrs. Evans' home, CG&E crews might have found it if they had checked a few more houses Monday night.
Allen Leming
Ron Bevis
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CG&E logged two complaints from customers on Veazey Avenue saying there was a gas smell, but they reported it seemed to be coming from the intersection of Ferguson Avenue, said Kathy Meinke, CG&E spokeswoman.
A CG&E inspector went inside three homes at the intersection and walked the area to check for leaks, she said. "At no point did the equipment detect anything."
Mrs. Evans lives four doors west of the intersection of Veazey and Ferguson.
Mrs. Berger, who lives five houses down from Ferguson and across from Mrs. Evans, said she did not smell gas when she went out to get her paper Tuesday morning.
But Christy Sabin, who lives next door to Mrs. Evans, did. She said she reported the smell Monday night, but she said no one checked her house. Mrs. Sabin's garage was destroyed in the blast.
"We try to take care of the elderly people in the neighborhood," Mrs. Sabin said. "This didn't have to happen."
![[explosion]](/editions/1998/10/28/explode_600x374.jpg)
![[neighbor]](/editions/1998/10/28/neighbor_351x550.jpg)