It's not often that the NTSB

[roadman]

retreats from an investigation:

http://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/PR20150819c.aspx

[Alex4897]

What would the NTSB be doing at a motel gas explosion in the first place..? Or do they do more than their name implies?

[jeffandnicole]

What would the NTSB be doing at a motel gas explosion in the first place..? Or do they do more than their name implies?

I would understand it if a vehicle - especially a commercial vehicle - was involved.  It sounds like the first story hinted at that, until the facts came out.

[roadman]

What would the NTSB be doing at a motel gas explosion in the first place..? Or do they do more than their name implies?

In addition to air, rail, and highway crashes, the NTSB investigates pipeline incidents as well, including those involving connecting pipelines between the main and individual properties up to the gas meter.  Inital reports of the explosion suggested that a public gas pipeline might be at fault, which is why they sent a Go Team.  Once they learned that somebody was screwing around with the gas meter just before the explosion, they concluded the public mains weren't to blame.

I'm sure this isn't the first time the NTSB cancelled an investigation based on initial information gathered at the scene - it's just unusual to me that they would be so public about it.  Chock one up for transparency I guess.

Example of a recent NTSB gas line investigation involving a connection to a building:  http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/PAR1501.pdf

[realjd]

The Feds have many different investigative branches and many different police forces. This was just the NTSB saying that they weren't needed this time. I'm sure the investigation is continuing under some other organization.

[jakeroot]

Locally, this is a non-story. I assume the NTSB lost interest because the majority of people around here did as well. I feel bad for the gas-man, but I really haven't heard anyone speak about it. Originally everyone thought it was a meth lab explosion, but the second the story turned into "gas leak" or "improper gas line installation", everyone lost interest.