"The community deserves assurance that this will not happen again." Despite the return of thousands of people to the affected communities, many remain indefinitely without access to hot water. NiSource declined to comment on the pending litigation, but Ken Stammen, a spokesman for the company told NPR, "We are fully committed to responding to the needs of people who are suffering because of this incident." Stammen noted that NiSource on Tuesday contributed $10 million to a disaster recovery fund intended to provide housing and support services for impacted residents. Hours before the spate of fires and explosions that killed one person and injured more than two dozen others on Thursday, pressure in the gas pipelines running through three towns registered at 12 times their normal level, according to the state's U.S. senators.