Saturday, March 14, 2015

3RD NATURAL GAS EXPLOSION IN 3 WEEKS IN NJ: SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NJ HOUSE GAS EXPLOSION SENT WOMAN TO HOSPITAL, BUMPED UP THE SECOND FLOOR AND KNOCKED OUT THE SIDE WALLS.









                              The home prior to the explosion
                                        The home prior to the explosion


MARCH 14, 2015

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, NEW JERSEY

A house explosion (possibly from natural gas leak) in Seaside Heights sent a 26-year-old woman to the hospital for evaluation, according to police and fire officials.

Police responded after getting a call at 10:10 this morning about the two-story apartment building on 223 Sumner Avenue, Seaside Heights, NJ 08751, according to Steve Kormer of the Seaside Heights Police Department.
Ernest Leinbach, 43, of Hamilton Avenue, lives two blocks away from the explosion.

"I was listening to the radio, and the house shook, and I actually thought something actually hit the house," Leinbach said. "I didn't know - maybe something fell out of the sky. It was weird. Not long after that, I heard the fire trucks. I went for a ride and saw the road all shut down and saw the gas trucks come by."

The explosion occurred on the first floor as maintenance work was being done on the house, Kormer said.  The 26-year-old woman was upstairs in the second floor at the time. Her injuries are not deemed serious. She was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River.

Fire Chief William Rumbolo said that the explosion "bumped up the second floor and knocked out the side walls."
Rumbolo said the house will likely be deemed unsafe for habitation, and that the explosion caused "significant" damage.

Sumner Avenue is currently shut as police respond to the situation.
This is the third house explosion in just three weeks in Ocean County. In Stafford Township, 15 people were injured in February when a natural gas explosion ripped through a home. And on March 2, a man was badly burned in a home explosion in Point Pleasant Beach.
Source:www.nj.com

As we have been commenting for years now, the New Jersey natural gas infrastructure is significantly deteriorated due to the very old (and expired) cast iron pipes and unprotected steel pipes in existence.  

Some of that infrastructure is unmarked or not adequately marked.  If we also consider the heavily dense areas and the construction activities going on, the risk of rupturing these pipelines (either transmission or distribution) is rather high and happens on a daily basis.  

It is not unreasonable to assume that Hurricane Sandy damaged the infrastructure in this area, as Seaside Heights was hit very hard by the Superstorm.  Lots of re-building and maintenance work is still going on and much needs to be done.
 
Just recently PSE&G decided to replace some of that old and expired (aka, very dangerous piping) piping that leaks like a sieve.  They announced the pipe replacements only after we had the two massive home explosions two weeks ago that were displayed on the national news.  Certainly they face a big challenge, as the piping is located in very densely populated neighborhoods.