More than a year after an explosion at Rainbow Terrace killed one person and injured four others, city officials said a gas leak was most likely the cause of the blast.
But a fire investigation could not conclusively identify the reason for the June 2025 explosion, officials said. Investigators did not pinpoint a heat source that ignited the gas. Nor could they say what caused the leak in the lower levels of the building.
The official cause of the explosion is listed as “undetermined” in a report the city released Monday.
Mayor Justin Bibb called that conclusion “deeply frustrating” at a news conference Monday morning.
“It’s frustrating for me and it’s frustrating to the entire community,” he said.
Bibb said that residents “deserve clear answers” about the explosion and blaze that displaced dozens of families. The multi-part investigation, which included probes by gas company Enbridge Gas Ohio and the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, “took longer than we all wanted,” he said.
The city is holding a public meeting about its findings and the recovery effort Oct. 8 at 5:30 p.m. at Zelma George recreation center.
Read more: Find the reports from the city, Enbridge and PUCO here.
Gas leak and ‘unknown heat source’ eyed as likely cause of blast
The explosion and fire tore through the privately owned, income-restricted apartment building on the afternoon of June 23, 2025. Five people were injured, one of whom later died.
Two witnesses — a security guard and a maintenance supervisor — later told investigators that they smelled natural gas shortly before the explosion, the city fire report said.
“It is most probable,” the report said, “that there was a rapid Natural Gas build up…and this gas reached an explosive concentration level where an unknown Heat Source ignited the gas creating a catastrophic explosion resulting in widespread fire, heat, and smoke damage.”
Enbridge’s investigation, which was separate from the city’s, concluded that a leak from a “customer-owned” gas line was the “apparent cause” of the blast. A meter inspection 21 days before the explosion did not find leaks, the report said. The city included the gas company’s report in the documents released Monday.
PUCO’s own report criticized Enridge’s investigation, but said it did not find compliance failures by the gas company that led to the explosion. Enbridge’s map of its gas lines in the area did not include one line and staff failed to detect escaping gas after the incident, PUCO’s report said.
But the state utility regulator also reached the same conclusion as the city and gas company: that it was “unable to determine the exact cause of the natural gas that led to the explosion.”
Central community pushes for answers
A former resident of Rainbow Terrace had pressed the city for answers just before it released Monday’s findings.
At last week’s Cleveland City Council meeting, Kyonna Bell — a 30-year resident of Rainbow Terrace — demanded that city officials explain who was responsible for the blast. The explosion left her children with burns that required surgeries, she said.
“This baby right here lost his father,” she said, placing her hand on the back of one of her children. “His father is gone in this explosion…But no one, no one, says what happened, what’s the cause of me losing everything I have.”
Ward 5 Council Member Richard Starr released a statement last week saying families had “every right to be angry.” His statement urged the Bibb administration to share what it knew about the case. Starr asked questions of investigators during Monday’s news conference, but declined to talk with a Signal Cleveland reporter afterward.
At the news conference, the mayor offered a response to Bell’s public comment.
“You deserve accountability, transparency and our continued support,” Bibb said, “and today is just one part of that support we’ll see from this administration moving forward.”
He asked anyone with more information about the blast to share it with the city, saying the findings could change if more facts come to light.
