Monday, February 23, 2015

PROPANE TANK EXPLODES IN LONG ISLAND WHEN A PROPANE LINE FEEDING A STOVE WAS RUPTURED; 1 WOMAN SUFFERS BURNS AND SHE WAS HOSPITALIZED







FEBRUARY 23, 2015

BRENTWOOD, LONG ISLAND

A residential home explosion that leveled a residence in Brentwood Sunday evening left a woman hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit at Stony Brook University Hospital, Suffolk County police said Tuesday. 

Police identified the victim as Ryan Flanagan, 24, and said she was in stable condition with "burns to 30 percent of her lower extremities."

Jeff Rueb, who identified himself as co-owner of the house on Third Avenue, said Flanagan lived in a rented detached cottage on the property. Police Arson Squad detectives said the explosion was caused by a ruptured propane line feeding a stove.  Rueb said the woman told him she had been painting and had moved the stove, which was fed by an external propane tank.

Police confirmed the scenario, saying the explosion occurred when the stove was being moved back into place.

Rueb said he and his wife had just returned from skiing in Pennsylvania and that he had talked to Flanagan when he was shoveling snow moments before the explosion.

"I had just gone in to take a shower," Rueb said, "and I heard a horrific noise. We have plenty of big pine trees and I just assumed one had fallen."

Then, Rueb said, he heard his wife screaming and went outside -- to find the converted garage cottage in flames.

"She came crawling out, on fire," Rueb said of the tenant, adding: "My wife screamed for her to roll in the snow."

Police received a 911 call at 7:36 p.m., reporting the explosion. Volunteers from the Brentwood Fire Department responded and put out the fire.

Photos from the scene showed half of the structure gone, the rest of it charred.
"It's gone," Rueb said. "It's leveled, it's burned. It's gone. I've never seen anything like it in my life . . . I'm just thankful to God no one's dead.