Four displaced students recover lives, welcome donations and support following Thanksgiving-day house explosion

Kayla Keddal did not expect one phone call to alter her fall semester as she spent Thanksgiving with her family at her grandmother’s house. 

Keddal, a Pitt senior majoring in English writing and communication, was about to watch a movie with her family when her landlord called to report a problem about her house at 3376 Dawson St. at about 10:30 p.m. She said she was annoyed by having to drive from her mother’s house in Peters Township to Oakland after receiving the call because she was under the impression that the situation was minor.

Keddal arrived at the scene at about 11 p.m.

“I was not expecting to drive up to that situation,” Keddal said. “I had a panic attack. I had to ask a lot of times if everyone was OK.” 

On Thursday, Nov. 28, at about 7:30 p.m., the two-story house on Dawson Street exploded into flames. Keddal and Maddison Krupp, a Point Park senior majoring in journalism, lived on the first floor, while Pitt seniors Alexa Becker, an anthropology, French and preoptometry major and Ian Quinn, an information sciences major, shared the second floor. 

Fuchiang and Fenfang Tsui, the landlords, declined to comment about the explosion.

As of Jan. 3, investigators were still searching for the cause of the fire. According to Michael Burford, an investigator at Pittsburgh Bureau of Fire, the fire investigators are inclined to deem a natural gas explosion as the cause. 

Once Keddal saw the pile of splintered furniture, rubbage and black debris that had once been her home, she knew that nothing could be salvaged. 

“It was sickening that that could’ve happened when we were there,” Keddal said.

The students also lost valuable belongings to the flames. 

Keddal wishes she hadn’t lost her Build-A-Bear, which she made with her roommates during her freshman year at the University of South Carolina. Keeping the bear close to her throughout college was a way of remembering her friends.

But Keddal cannot avoid the spot where she lost so many of her belongings, as her parking permit allows her to park in the area near her former home.

“I stop and look at the pile of wood every single time, and I just can’t believe that was our place,” Keddal said. Becker and Quinn reacted similarly to the news. 

At about 7:30 p.m., Becker woke up from her post-Thanksgiving nap to a ringing phone with a call from Quinn, who explained that an explosion occurred within their house. 

“It’s not really a phone call that anyone expects to get,” she said. 

Becker waited as long as she could to visit the site because she thought it would be too difficult to look at the remains of the house.

She planned to create a collage of ticket stubs from her recent spring semester in Paris, but she lost the stubs in the fire. The sight of her home’s charred remains also vanquished her plans to salvage some pieces of furniture for her first apartment after college.

“When I first got back, [Quinn and I] were pretty upset,” Becker said. “We didn’t live by our friends anymore. We felt isolated.” 

The University offered free housing for the remainder of the fall semester to the residents of the house.

Becker and Keddal stayed in Lothrop Hall for the rest of the semester, while Quinn stayed in Litchfield Tower C. The University did not provide Krupp with housing because she is not a Pitt student, and she instead commuted to her classes.

This semester, Keddal and Krupp have been commuting to school until their new house is ready for residents. According to Keddal, the two are renting a new house with different landlords. Keddal declined to comment on where she and her roommate are going to live. 

“We’ve known each other since we were kids,” Keddal said of her roommate. “This really is a dramatic event that brought us closer together.”

Quinn and Becker have since moved into an apartment on Semple Street, where they signed a new lease, but their reactions to the explosion made for a challenging transition.

Becker said she was overwhelmed with emotions, which made studying difficult as the semester ended, but the students said they did not have problems making arrangements with their professors following the explosion.

Despite the chaos, Keddal said she was able to complete the fall semester on a high note academically through teachers’ support, which included assignment and final exam extensions. 

Gamma Sigma Sigma, a service sorority at Pitt, worked to fundraise for the students affected by the explosion. 

According to GSS President Maria Lopez, a junior majoring in rehabilitation sciences, the sorority encouraged sisters to rummage through their closets, basements and garages for items — clothing, home appliances or school supplies — that the students might need.

Alyssa Kurtz, the public relations coordinator and a junior majoring in social work and sociology, and Jessi Collins, the service vice president and a junior majoring in neuroscience, organized the fundraiser after Thanksgiving break. 

According to Collins, GSS plans to accept donations from only sisters because of the sorority’s size.

The Student Government Board is also contributing efforts to help the affected students. According to former-Board member Sowmya Sanapala, the former Board planned to work with a few members of this semester’s Board to assemble fundraising efforts.

On Jan. 4, The Board launched an emergency relief fundraiser with a goal of $1,000 through a virtual fundraising website called Fundly, according to Board member Graeme Meyer. 

The Board will also sell T-shirts for $5 in Litchfield Towers lobby next week and donate the sales to the victims of the explosion. Meyer said SGB will announce the specific dates and times of the fundraiser next week. 

Pitt spokesman John Fedele said in an email that he was not aware of any fundraising efforts by the University.

But Pitt isn’t new to supporting students after similar disasters. Last spring, when a house on Zulema Street where 13 Pitt students lived caught fire, The University responded with similar efforts, including free housing for the remainder of the semester and textbook loans for the students. SGB also held a T-shirt sale to fundraise for the affected students.

Support for Keddal and her roommates came from outside of the University community as well.

Keddal said she had no idea how many people cared about her until she found out that her employer had organized a fundraiser to support her.

Jason Miller, the owner of the online directory Active Pittsburgh, began the fundraiser on GoFundMe, a virtual donation site, on Thursday, Dec. 5.

Keddal has worked as an Active Pittsburgh intern since March 2013. She promoted and wrote feature articles for the site, which Miller launched in September 2013. According to Miller, Keddal became Miller’s “right-hand man” in helping to develop the business.

“It was weird because I was touching base with her to see how things were going with an article she was working on, and she responded by saying, ‘My house exploded,’” Miller said. 

Miller wanted to help her financially by utilizing Active Pittsburgh’s network, which he said includes several thousand people.

He has been advertising the fundraiser through both his personal and Active Pittsburgh’s Facebook accounts and has already reached 90 percent of his $500 goal as of Jan. 7.

Keddal was touched by the number of donors who have visited the site.

“It makes me emotional that people care so much,” Keddal said. “People from my little sister’s high school are going on there.” 

With the help of those who care about her recovery, Keddal said she is recovering her life as a new semester begins.

“I am lucky to have so many loving people that are offering their help,” Keddal said. “I feel really blessed.”