Passersby rushed to the scene quickly after the explosion, seeking to help the injured, while others helped motorists who were trapped in their cars by inflated [[airbag]]s. City firefighters soon began arriving to fight a fire triggered by the explosion. Once the blaze was extinguished, a search-and-rescue effort began; it continued until the evening of the following day.
Following an investigation, officials in the Durham Fire Department released a report<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/news/local/2019/08/09/18560197/8.8.19_N_Duke_Street_Gas_Explosion_Report___Appendices-DMID1-5jr9s37is.pdf|title=115 {{BareNorth URLDuke PDFStreet Fatal Natural Gas Explosion - Origin and Cause Investigation Report - Incident No. 19-1909574 - April 10, 2019|last=Graves|first=Brian|date=MarchAugust 20222, 2019|publisher=City of Durham Fire Department|website=wwwcache.wral.com}}</ref> which determined that a three person crew from [[Optic Cable Technology]] digging horizontally to install underground cables breached a {{Convert|3/4|in|cm|0|adj=on}} gas line in front of Kaffeinate on the morning of the explosion. Shop owner Kong Lee went outside to complain about the gas smell – the report includes images from a nearby security camera that shows Lee waving his hand in front of his nose as he talked with the crew – but there was no evidence that Lee or anyone from Optic Cable called 911 to report the gas leak. The report was unable to determine what ignited the estimated {{Convert|46,000|cuft}} of natural gas that leaked out of the ruptured pipe in the roughly 60 minutes from the initial breach to the explosion at 10:06{{nbsp}}am.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/investigation-identifies-who-cut-gas-line-that-led-to-fatal-durham-explosion/18560049|title = Investigation identifies who cut gas line that led to fatal Durham explosion|date = August 9, 2019}}</ref>
