Stafford Township house explosion blamed on underground gas leak
STAFFORD TOWNSHIP (WABC) -- Natural gas leaking from an underground main traveled into a house in Stafford Township, built up in its basement and exploded when it came in contact with an open flame from an appliance, investigators said.
The blast on Tuesday leveled the house and injured 15 people. One of the injured remained in critical condition at the Regional Trauma Center at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, while another was listed in stable condition. All others were treated and released from hospital.
Utility service was being restored in the area, although many who live close to the explosion site were without heat Wednesday morning.
The broken gas main was repaired overnight, and workers were going door to door to restore service to individual homes. While they waited in the cold, people used fireplaces and space heaters to cope.
The explosion Tuesday morning was caught on police dashcam video, as a gas leak blew the building apart as utility workers, fire fighters and police worked to evacuate the area and find the leak.
"That's what it sounded like, that's what I saw," said Greg Johnson, a neighbor. "It felt like the house moved."
Calls about an odor of gas on Oak Avenue began coming in around 9 a.m., and 90 minutes later, there was nothing left of one of the homes.
"Unbelievable," one police officer said. "It's absolutely amazing that no one lost their life."
Without warning, the fireball erupted, throwing a massive amount of debris in the air.
The cruiser even shook as the shockwave hits.
"He was returning to his car at the time the explosion happened," Stafford Township Chief Joe Giberson said. "Instantly, once the explosion happened, he entered his car and pushed the record button, knowing the recorder would capture 30 seconds prior."
The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said the most likely source of the explosion 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 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.
The 15 people who were injured include seven New Jersey Natural Gas workers, six firefighters and two EMTs.
"We're very blessed and fortunate to have a lot of these guys here," Mayor John Spodofora said. "A lot of them are volunteers. Our fire department and first aid squad were there immediately."
Chief Jack Johnson, of the Stafford Township Volunteer Fire Department, said he had never seen anything like it. He estimates he was just 50 yards from the blast.
"It happened so quickly, the explosion - we had debris all around us," he said. "It came from nowhere. It's something you don't expect to happen."
Homes and businesses more than a mile away reported varying degrees of damage from the blast. Insulation and wood fragments remained tangled in treetops near the blast site.
