Quarry Blast Sends 82 Lb. Rock Into Buffalo Twp. Home

BUFFALO TOWNSHIP, Pa.,None — A stone quarry in Buffalo Township was shut down on Monday after a blast sent an 82-pound chunk of stone into a home nearly a quarter-mile away.

VIDEO: Blast Sends Rock Into Home

The chunk crashed through the roof of a South Bridge Road home's porch. Another portion of stone landed in a yard between Interstate 70 and Route 40.

Authorities said the rock came from Stone Quarry along Route 221.

David Ross told Channel 11 News he was riding his stationary bike he heard two crashes. When he went outside, he saw the rock and the damage it did to his front porch.

"I heard the dynamite go off and then I heard, with a snap of the finger, I heard another crash and that's when I knew something happened," said Ross. "So I came walking out and saw all this debris on my porch."

Not only did the rock rip through the porch, but it tore off the home's siding, too.

"A couple weeks ago we sat out in the yard and waited for the dynamite to go off and feel the vibration in the ground. That's all it was, that's all it has ever been," said Ross.

Ross's neighbor heard the commotion, felt the ground shake and found a rock on her property as well.

"A couple seconds later, I just heard a noise," said Ruth Dewitt. "Sounded like, incoming something. I was looking up. I was trying to figure out where this was. I saw it about 15 to 20 feet above the ground."

The Department of Environmental Protection has halted blasting at the quarry and cited the company after the incident. An investigation is under way.

"They think they hit a pocket of methane gas and it gave it a higher boot," Ross said.

No injuries were reported.

Ross said the quarry company said they will pay for the repairs to his home.

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