FEBRUARY 25, 2015
STAFFORD, OCEAN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
A crack in a two-inch, steel gas distribution main, 36
inches beneath oak avenue is to blame for an explosion that obliterated a house
and damaged about a dozen others in the cedar run neighborhood of ocean county,
new jersey. The leaking gas got into the
cabin at 59 oak ave. along a water main line. The gas was ignited by a pilot light in the utility room of the cabin or by a thermostat. No word on how the crack in the pipe was
developed, but new jersey has one of the oldest steel pipe infrastructure in
the nation. This brutal winter may have
also contributed in the acceleration of the pipe rupture, as the frost depth exceeded 36 inches. Salt from the road may have also contributed into the weakening and deterioration of the steel pipe.
The explosion that blew a house to pieces Tuesday originated
in the basement utility room of the structure and was deemed accidental,
authorities said.
An investigation revealed that gas was leaking from a 2-inch
natural gas distribution main in the street and got into the house at 59 Oak
Ave. along a water main line, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.
The gas then built up and ultimately ignited from an open
flame, prosecutor's office spokesman Al Della Fave said. The flame is typically
a pilot light from a furnace or other utilities commonly in houses.
Initially, police said the house may have been undergoing
renovations, but Stafford Township administrator James Moran said that it was
not being renovated at the time of the explosion.
The owners of the house that exploded, Mark and Margaret
Reynolds, live next door, police Capt. Thomas Dellane said. They could not be
reached for comment.
An employee at the business that the Reynoldses own,
Reynolds Landscaping and Garden Center in Stafford, said the building that
exploded was an unoccupied cabin that was on the same property as their house
and was situated in front of their home.
He said the cabin was not under renovation but that the
house across the street was. The employee, who did not want to be identified,
said the Reynoldses were already out of their house Tuesday morning tending to
business when someone reported the smell of gas in the area.
The Reynoldses, like their neighbors, received notice of
evacuation, he said. The blast damaged the home they were living in and they
were in the process on Wednesday of trying to determine the extent of the
damage, the employee said.
"They're very appreciative of everyone's concern about
them," he said. "Right now, their main concern is the well-being of
the workers who were injured as well as [for] their neighbors who were
affected."
Dellane said the Reynoldses used the cabin as a guest house
for visitors.
Stafford police and fire responded to Oak Avenue around 8:55
a.m. on Tuesday for a report of a strong smell of natural gas and area
residents were evacuated, authorities said.
New Jersey Natural Gas also responded and the strongest odor
was detected in front of 55 Oak Ave. Around 10:30 a.m., employees were
attempting to access the gas main in the street when the house exploded, Della
Fave said.
Seven New Jersey Natural Gas employees, six firefightesr and
two EMS personnel were taken to the hospital, authorities said.
Dean Barnett, 47, of Stafford, was most seriously injured in
the explosion, according to the prosecutor's office. He remained in critical
condition Wednesday.
One other gas company employee remains hospitalized in
stable condition and the remaining 13 people were treated and released, Dellane
said.
The names of the other victims were expected to be released
Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.
The gas company was also working Wednesday morning to
restore service in the area after approximately 300 customers were shut off.
Michael Kinney, a spokesman for the gas company, said 335
customers whose homes were fed by that distribution main were without service
after crews shut down the line at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, an hour after the
blast.
He said Stafford police have noted they received a call
about an odor of natural gas around 8:55 a.m. on Tuesday. The gas company got a
call from police around 9:15 a.m. and crews were on scene by 9:30 a.m., Kinney
said. A first-responder crew was in the process of trying to identify the
source of the odor when the explosion occurred.
"The first order of business is identifying the source
and then you go about making repairs," Kinney said. "Every day,
safety is a top priority. We work to provide safe reliable service to our
customers and that commitment doesn't change."
He said service was slowly being restored to them as crews
were able to access each building and perform a safety check. Kinney said that
as of noon on Wednesday, service was returned to 280 customers and the company
expected to restore full service by the end of Wednesday.
Gas company officials don't yet know what caused the pipe --
buried some 36 inches below ground and running up the center of Oak Avenue --
to crack, Kinney said. He said crews removed and replaced the cracked section
of the line overnight.
New Jersey Natural Gas customers in that area who still have
questions are being asked to call 800-221-0051 and say "no gas" when
prompted if they area still without service.
//_____________________________________________//
A CRACK IN A
TWO-INCH, STEEL GAS DISTRIBUTION MAIN ALONG OAK AVENUE CAUSED THE GAS LEAK. THE
LEAKING GAS GOT INTO THE CABIN AT 59 OAK AVE. ALONG A WATER MAIN LINE. THE GAS WAS IGNITED BY A PILOT LIGHT IN THE
UTILITY ROOM OF THE CABIN
STAFFORD TOWNSHIP – A crack discovered in a two-inch,
steel-protected gas main, 36 inches beneath Oak Avenue is to blame for an
explosion that obliterated a house and damaged about a dozen others in the
Cedar Run neighborhood, according to authorities.
The subsequent leaking gas jetted through a small
underground water main into the basement of the house at 59 Oak Ave., where the
gas ignited from a pilot light on one the utilities, said spokesman Al Della
Fave of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office.
Dean Barnett, 47, a New Jersey Natural Gas employee who is
also a Stafford resident, remained in critical condition Wednesday at
AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic County. Barnett was part of a
crew that was dispatched to the neighborhood on Tuesday morning to investigate
an odor associated with leaking gas.
Ed Jones of Evesham was also taken to AtlantiCare where his
condition has been upgraded to stable on Wednesday. Five other gas company
employees were treated at Southern Ocean Medical Center in Stafford and
released. Six members of the Stafford Township Volunteer Fire Company and two
Stafford EMS members were also transported to Southern where they all too were
treated and released the same day. In total, 15 people were injured in the
blast at 10:33 a.m. Tuesday.
The other New Jersey Natural Gas employess hurt have been
identified as Bill Sinclair and Anthony Widmer, both of Stafford; Chris Smith,
Pine Beach; Henry Garcia, Manchester; and Carlos Rojas, Eagleswood.
The Stafford volunteer firefighters hurt have been
identified as Fire Chief Jack Johnson and firefighters Matt Dodds, John Fugee,
Rick Pumphrey, George Yockachonis and Al Merlino. The Stafford EMS members
injured are Robert Keegan and Richard Ducker.
The basement of 59 Oak Ave. was all that remained of the
house, surrounded by a field of fiberglass and splintered wood, taped off and
marked as "evidence." A child's ride-on firetruck was near the
street, billiard balls lay among the debris. Fiberglass still dangled from the
trees, television reporters lined up along the curb to do brief live shots from
ground zero.
The shockwave from the explosion caused catastrophic damage
to the next door home of Barbara Cotov at 55 Oak Ave., where pieces of debris —
wood, insulation, siding, roof shingles and other miscellaneous and some
unrecognizable items — littered her front and backyard, and covered her roof
top.
Cotov, who had lived in the house for about 15 years, had
said she smelled a strong odor of gas before the explosion — although she had
not reported it. She returned with family members on Wednesday to collect her
valuables and legal documents.
She doesn't think she'll be able to return to this home
again, said her daughter-in-law, Michelle Lewis of Little Egg Harbor. There was
a notice on the door from authorities warning that the house was not safe.
"We're going to get some of her important items, her
medicine, some important documents she'll need," Lewis explained.
"The house —from the way the explosion hit — the bathroom is totally
destroyed, the toilet is in two pieces, the bedroom is completely wrecked.
Doors are blown off. There was just glass all over the house. Everything — it
looks like a tornado hit inside the house."
Nearly every window Matt Rodgers had recently installed in
his house at 48 Oak Ave. was shattered.
The ground was covered in ice and broken glass, caution tape
was draped across the front of the lot. Rodgers, 34, removed tools from the
house, which was no longer weather tight or secure.
Rodgers said he's been working on rebuilding the 19th
Century-era home for about a year and a half. He said he invested about $70,000
and it's not insured.
"It's frustrating," he said. "I don't know
where to begin."
He figures the damage to the home will cost thousands of
dollars, if the place isn't damaged beyond repair.
"I still have to move forward," he added.
With the gas main shut off Tuesday into Wednesday, several
homeowners on the street said they stayed elsewhere overnight.
The gas main, which was installed in 1981 and is therefore
not old by industry standards, provides service to 335 customers. Service to
all customers was expected to be restored Wednesday night. The gas main, which
operates under pressure, runs east to west from Route 9 to the Garden State
Parkway, was tested and deemed safe at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Michael M.
Kinney, a spokesman for New Jersey Natural Gas.
"We're confident it's safe," Kinney said.
He said what caused the crack in the gas main remains under
investigation.
At 40 Oak Ave., a deep crack ran across the wall of a
bedroom. A poster describing Murphy's Law hung in the foyer: "Anything
that can go wrong, will go wrong."
"What are you gonna do?" said the homeowner, Lyn
Thomas. "Fortunately ... none of my friends got hurt. I feel terrible for
the first responders who got hurt."
The residents of Oak Avenue should be covered by their
insurance policies if their homes are damaged in an explosion, said Kevin
Foley, owner of PFT&K Insurance Brokers in Milltown.
Insurance brokers typically sell policies that cover losses
caused by more than a dozen events. In addition to common disasters such as
fire, lightning, windstorms and hail, they cover damage caused by explosions,
falling parts from aircraft and even volcanic eruption, Foley said.
Consumers' insurers eventually might recoup the loss from
whoever was responsible through a process called subrogation, Foley said.
"It's not a usual occurrence that houses are exploding,
but I would expect with the natural gas company, their insurance company is
setting aside money to (cover the loss)," he said.
The incident is reminiscent of the gas explosion at PETCO in
Eatontown exactly 10 years next week. That blast on March 4, 2005 injured five
people, killed dozens of animals and trapped two people under a mountain of
rubble after the explosion ripped through the building.
Kinney's advice for consumers: "If you smell natural
gas you should leave the premises and call 1-800-GAS-LEAK. If they have any
concerns and they think they smell gas, they should call."