FEBRUARY 25, 2015
STAFFORD TOWNSHIP, NEW JERSEY
Natural gas leaking from an underground main traveled into a
New Jersey house,
built up in its basement and exploded when it came in contact with an open
flame from an appliance, investigators said.
Of course, static electricity could have also caused the explosion.
Tuesday's blast leveled the house and injured 15 people, one
of whom remained in critical condition a day later.
Utility service was being restored in the area, although
many who live close to the explosion site were without heat Wednesday morning.
"I got a wall that's blown in the back, I've got
ceiling coming down in one of the bedrooms, door frames blown out, can't close
my back door, there's no heat," said Lyn Thomas, who lives across the
street from the blast site. "Fortunately, the pipes aren't frozen yet. If
the gas company doesn't get here pretty soon, they will."
The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said the most likely
source of the explosion in Stafford Township was a pilot light from a hot water
heater or furnace, or a spark from a thermostat.
The agency said gas leaked from a 2-inch main in the street
in front of the house, traveled along a water pipe into the unoccupied house's
basement, and exploded when the flame or spark static electricity touched it.
Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office, said
the extent of the damage made it impossible to say which appliance touched off
the blast. It could have been the
furnace, the heater or even static electricity – and there is plenty of static electricity
during winter time.
A police car's dashboard camera recorded a fireball followed
by a downpour of debris. Homes and businesses more than a mile away reported
varying degrees of damage from the blast, which knocked several firefighters
and emergency medical technicians off their feet.
Insulation and wood fragments remained tangled in treetops
near the blast site.
Police, fire and gas company workers had advised neighbors
to evacuate due to a heavy gas smell in the area, and utility workers were
attempting to access the underground line when the explosion occurred at 10:32
a.m.
Authorities identified the most seriously hurt worker as
Dean Barnett, 47, of Stafford Township, an employee of New Jersey Natural Gas
Company. He was airlifted to a trauma center in Atlantic City, where he
remained in critical condition Wednesday. A second hospitalized worker, whose
name was not released, improved somewhat and was no longer on the critical list
Wednesday, company spokesman Michael Kinney said.
Stafford Police Capt. Thomas Dellane said all the
firefighters and EMS workers who were taken to hospitals with concussion-like
symptoms after the blast have been treated and released.
Paul Deforrest lives a block away and said he felt the force
of the blast.
"It was a tremendous explosion — really, really
tremendous," he said.
Della Fave said several residents in the neighborhood
refused or hesitated to evacuate when first asked to do so before the
explosion.
"People have to realize the extreme danger that can be
posed from natural gas leaks," he said. "If a police officer or
fireman asks you to evacuate, you need to leave, right then. There's a real
danger."