Councilmember Richard Starr Calls for Continued Rainbow Terrace Investigation and Greater Transparency

Oct 01, 2026

CLEVELAND, CLEVELAND, OHIO—Today, Ward 5 Cleveland City Councilmember Richard A. Starr held a press conference in the Mercedes Cotner Committee Room at Cleveland City Hall to address concerns about the investigation into the June 23, 2025 Rainbow Terrace Apartments explosion and fire and to promote greater transparency, accountability, and trust. 

Councilmember Starr was joined by Stanley Jackson, attorney for the Rainbow Terrace families; Bridgette Smith-Jackson, a social service provider who works with Rainbow Terrace families; Will Tarter, Jr., President of the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP; five of his Cleveland City Council colleagues; and more than 50 former Rainbow Terrace residents and their families. 

“Monday’s announcement was difficult to hear,” Councilmember Starr said. “Everyone understands that sometimes questions don’t have answers. But a man died, children were burned, and families were displaced by this disaster. After 15 months of being kept in the dark, it’s hard to trust being told there are no answers for the residents of Rainbow Terrace.” 

On Monday, September 28, Mayor Justin Bibb held a press conference where he announced that the Rainbow Terrace investigation had concluded the cause of the explosion remained “undetermined.” His administration released a memo from Safety Director Wayne Drummond, and the reports from the four teams that investigated Rainbow Terrace:

  • The Cleveland Fire Investigation Unit
  • The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio
  • Enbridge, the utility that supplied natural gas to Rainbow Terrace
  • S-E-A., Ltd., the firm hired by Enbridge to conduct a technical investigation and testing of their pipeline as required under federal law

Dozens of Rainbow Terrace families and supporters attended the Cleveland City Council meeting later that evening to express their frustration and anger about the investigation ending without answers. 

“The investigation can’t end like this,” Councilmember Starr said. “Undetermined doesn’t mean quit. It means keep looking.” 

Standing in front of his 50+ clients, attorney Stanley Jackson urged people to “look at them with humanity. This hurts all of us. If we want to be great, we have to do better.” 

Bridgette Smith-Jackson, who showed up on July 2, 2025, and has been helping Rainbow Terrace families ever since, said, “These families have been on a rocky road. It’s been a long fifteen months.” Smith-Jackson also pointed out that the victims of Rainbow Terrace suffered from the compounded trauma of struggling in substandard housing, and then having their home, all their belongings, and, in some cases, their pets destroyed in just a few minutes. 

The NAACP’s Will Tarter Jr. echoed Smith-Jackson’s comments: “These people suffer from visible and invisible wounds.” 

The City’s Fire Investigation Unit report concluded that natural gas rapidly accumulated in Buildings 7051 and 7055, which were then exposed to an unknown heat source, triggering a catastrophic explosion. The precise source of the gas release and the ignition source could not be determined to the required level of certainty. Reports from PUCO and S-E-A Ltd. echoed the FIU’s conclusions. 

The PUCO’s investigation identified substantial concerns about how Enbridge acted following the explosion. They blamed Enbridge’s inaccurate GIS mapping for leaving the south service line unidentified and unnoticed while it released uncontrolled natural gas for roughly 20 hours after the explosion. They also expressed concerns about Enbridge’s leak-detection practices. 

More concerningly, the PUCO cited incidents where Enbridge’s actions interfered with or impeded the investigation into the explosion. Enbridge removed possible evidence from the site and damaged piping in a way that prevented proper pressure or leak testing. While PUCO did not conclude that these deficiencies caused the original explosion, they raise unanswered questions about why Enbridge made so many mistakes. 

Also, unlike the other investigators, who agreed they could not definitively identify the origin and cause of the explosion, Enbridge conveniently pointed to a leaking two-inch house-line pipe owned by the building as the “apparent cause” of the explosion. 

“How can we say all the questions have been answered, when the report itself tells us that some of the evidence needed to answer those questions could no longer be fully tested?” Councilmember Starr said. “What evidence allowed Enbridge to reach a more specific apparent cause than the technical investigator it retained? These aren’t accusations. They are questions of accountability.” 

“I will not allow documented failures to be brushed aside simply because the final classification is “undetermined,” Starr added. 

Councilmember Starr called for transparent public accounting of how Enbridge reached its conclusion and what evidence Enbridge’s actions may have compromised. He continues to seek release of the body-cam footage gathered by everyone involved in responding to the explosion and participating in the investigation. He has also requested the release of evidence that may no longer be exempt from public records laws. 

“I’m not asking anyone to release protected information. I'm asking the government to show its work,” Starr said. 

A portion of the press conference gave victims of the Rainbow Terrace explosion an opportunity to share their heart-wrenching stories:

  • “I watched my building burn for 12 hours.”
  • “I was on the third floor of my building when the explosion happened. I had to escape by tying together sheets and was then taken to the emergency room.”
  • “I had two cats. When I asked about them, people made jokes. I asked if they had been found for three days. When I finally was let in to get my belongings, I found them in ten minutes. Both were dead.”
  • “We were already suffering before the explosion. The power box needed maintenance. We had flickering lights and no lights in my kids’ room. We had so many roaches they nearly crawled on our faces while we slept”
  • “My father died in a fire in February 2026. I lost his ashes in the fire. My dad burned up twice.”
  • “There were no fire alarms or smoke detectors.”
  • “I had my daughter by cesarean section the day before the explosion and was in the hospital when it happened. I was forced to leave the hospital three days early to get help for my family.”
  • “Some of us have had to move 5 to 10 times since the explosion.”
  • “My kids have burns over 75% and 85% of their bodies and still have to have more surgeries.”

"Too often, residents with the fewest resources are forced to accept delays, silence and unanswered questions from the institutions they rely on,” Starr said. They are repeatedly told and shown that they don’t matter. For 15 months, the city told them the same thing. 

The city owes it to these residents to do better. It’s time for transparency. It’s the only way to restore trust.”