Tuesday made precisely one year since a house explosion in a Plano neighborhood that caused injury to several people and damaged surrounding homes, according to NBC 5.
On July 19, 2021, an active thunderstorm was moving through the 4400 block of Cleveland Drive. Some people initially believed a lightning strike caused the large explosion, but it was later discovered this was not the case.
Investigators linked the explosion to a single gas leak but suspected it may have been an intentional act days later.
Several doors along Cleveland display permit signs across them, and many windows are still boarded up as residents slowly remodel.
The house where the blaze occurred has since been reduced to nothing more than a concrete slab. The man who lived in the home was inside it during the explosion. He was identified as Joseph Kupfor by his attorney, Scott Becker, following the incident last year.
Becker said Kupfor had to undergo multiple surgeries for his wounds, emphasizing that he wanted everyone to remember that his client was “one of the victims in this case.”
Inside the house next door, two parents and three children were wounded and required medical attention. The home, damaged in the explosion, remains in the same state as just after the blast in 2021.
Some of the neighbors are alarmed by the damaged property’s obvious tilt.
“The walls are falling in, and there’s been nothing done to that house,” said Karri Armstrong, a resident whose home was also damaged. “It’s frustrating. I know there’s all these houses going on the market, and what do you do when you try and put your house on the market and you got all of this damage around you?”
The house has since changed ownership, and the new owner is currently being prosecuted for code infractions, according to the City. The City is compelling the owner to appear in court, and a hearing date is expected.
The investigation by the Plano Police Department is still ongoing.