Fire Commissioner: Natural Gas Ruled Out As Cause Of Brooklyn Blast

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Fire marshals have eliminated natural gas as the cause of an explosion and fire that killed two people in Brooklyn, Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Thursday.

While the investigation is still ongoing, Nigro said fire marshals completed their onsite forensic examination of the scene at 13th Avenue and 42nd Street in Borough Park on Wednesday.

Nigro said the blast and fire began in a second-floor apartment. He said investigators had been looking into whether gas from a stove being disconnected in the apartment might have sparked the explosion.

But Nigro said Thursday that information obtained since then and confirmed by examining the building's gas meters "found that there was no natural gas flowing to the second floor apartment since June 26 – and that prior to the explosion no significant natural gas flow into any part of the building had occurred."

On Wednesday, Nigro said officials had no way of confirming that the explosion might have been intentionally set, but police sources said a woman believed to have been killed in the blast had posted messages on social media expressing thoughts of suicide.

Third-floor resident Ligia Puello, 64, was one of the victims killed in the explosion. Her body was found in the stairwell minutes after the blast.

On Monday, the remains of a second person were pulled from the rubble. She was positively identified late Thursday as Franchezka Figueroa, 47, a hair salon owner who lived in the second-floor unit.

At least 12 others were also injured.

The investigation is ongoing.