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For DeNova Detect, with Mayor Samantha Kaag and the Borough of West Reading

Documentary film · West Reading, PA

Filming DeNova Detect's free gas alarm handout in West Reading, PA

After the deadly explosion at the R.M. Palmer Company, DeNova Detect donated $25,000 worth of natural gas alarms to the West Reading neighbors closest to the site. We filmed the day for DeNova alongside Mayor Samantha Kaag and the borough, from the council chambers to the alarms going out door to door, and DeNova posted the film on its YouTube channel.

By Tony Ellis Martinez · TM Productions

Mayor Samantha Kaag with borough officials, a West Reading police officer and the DeNova Detect team standing together in the council chambers in front of the DeNova Detect table
Mayor Samantha Kaag, fifth from left, with the team behind the handout in the West Reading council chambers.

DeNova Detect makes natural gas alarms, and its parent company, New Cosmos USA, builds the gas sensors inside them. An explosion at the R.M. Palmer chocolate factory in West Reading, PA killed seven people. A few months later, Mayor Samantha Kaag, the West Reading Fire Department, West Reading Borough Council and DeNova Detect teamed up to get free alarms into the homes closest to the site.

On June 9, the alarms went out door to door on South Second Avenue, the 100 block of Franklin Street, the 200 block of Chestnut Street and Yarnell Street. DeNova brought us in to document the whole day, and we delivered a short documentary film and a full photo gallery.

The film

DeNova posted the finished film on its YouTube channel a month later. It runs a little over four minutes, and Mayor Kaag tells a lot of the story herself, along with the DeNova team and the residents who got the alarms.

Our camera in the foreground filming a DeNova Detect representative holding a gas alarm on a front lawn in West Reading

West Reading Community Receives Free Natural Gas Alarms, on the DeNova Detect YouTube channel. Open on YouTube

In the council chambers

The day started inside the borough council chambers, where DeNova set up its table and banner. We filmed interviews there with Mayor Kaag, the DeNova team and the borough officials who organized the handout before everyone headed out to the street.

West Reading Mayor Samantha Kaag smiling during her on-camera interview in front of the DeNova Detect banner, with our camera in the foreground
Mayor Kaag during her interview for the film.
Mayor Samantha Kaag, right, with a DeNova Detect representative beside the DeNova Detect table and banner in the council chambers
Mayor Kaag with DeNova Detect at the table in the council chambers.
A borough official in a gray polo and lanyard talking on camera in front of the DeNova Detect banner, with our camera and monitor in the foreground
Interviewing a borough official in front of the DeNova banner.
Our camera operator at a tripod filming a DeNova Detect representative, seen past a borough code enforcement officer
Filming in the chambers, behind the scenes.
A camera operator at a tripod filming an interview with a DeNova Detect representative in the council chambers
Setting up an interview in the chambers.
A camera operator at a tripod beside a DeNova Detect representative in the council chambers
Getting the shot lined up.
Boxed New Cosmos natural gas alarms stacked on a table
The alarms waiting to go out.
A row of white natural gas alarms standing on a table next to their boxes
The alarms out of the box.

Door to door

Then the cartons came out to the streets closest to the explosion site. Borough officials, West Reading police and the DeNova team carried them house to house and handed the alarms to residents right at their front doors. We stayed with them the whole way so the film could show the alarms actually landing in people's hands.

Close-up of hands carrying a cardboard carton labeled DeNova Detect Natural Gas Alarm
A carton of DeNova alarms headed down the block.
A West Reading police sergeant carrying two cartons of DeNova Detect alarms
West Reading police helped carry the alarms.
A resident at her front steps holding an alarm while the DeNova Detect team, a police officer and a borough official stand on the sidewalk
One of the first stops on the street.
A DeNova Detect representative handing a boxed alarm to a resident at her front steps
Handing over an alarm at the front steps.
A DeNova Detect representative shaking hands with a resident outside his front door after handing him an alarm
A handshake at the door.
A DeNova Detect representative and two residents holding a boxed alarm on their porch
Two neighbors with their alarm on the porch.
A DeNova Detect representative and a resident holding a boxed alarm at a front door with a floral wreath
At the front door with a new alarm.
A resident sitting on his porch while a DeNova Detect representative hands him an alarm
Talking with a neighbor on his porch.
A resident and a DeNova Detect representative holding an alarm in front of a painted mural
In front of a mural in West Reading.

Interviews with the neighbors

We also sat down with residents at home, with a field monitor in the living room and a lit interview on the couch, because the film needed to hear from the people living closest to the site.

A field monitor in the foreground during an interview with a resident on his living room couch
The interview on the monitor.
A resident in a red shirt talking on camera in his living room
A resident telling his story on camera.

Thanks to DeNova Detect for trusting us with this one, and to the West Reading officials and residents who let us film.

Donation and street details via DeNova Detect and local coverage at the time. The film is on DeNova Detect's YouTube channel. Every photo on this page is from our gallery of the day.