A series of gas explosions rocked the darkness in a Union Township neighborhood yesterday, leveling two homes, damaging two others and injuring five residents and two firefighters, authorities said. Three of the residents, two in critical condition, were in Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston yesterday, a hospital spokeswoman said. One blast blew the roof off a two-story Cape Cod moments after firefighters left the home, said Fire Chief Fred Fretz of Union Township. Investigators are trying to determine if a pipe carrying natural gas, used for heating and cooking, leaked and ignited the fire, he said. The first sign of trouble came shortly before 3:30 a.m. when the Thomas family living at 744 Lehigh Ave. awoke to the smell of gas, according to Fretz. An alarmed Ferdinand and Charmaine Thomas were rushing to open windows and shut off appliances when they heard an explosion in the basement that collapsed the home’s rear wall, Fretz said. As flames crept toward the second floor, Charmaine Thomas fled the house and her husband rushed upstairs to rescue their 15-year-old daughter Samantha. The blast had jammed the girl’s bedroom door, trapping her. Ferdinand Thomas forced the door open and hurled a mattress through the open wall so the pair could drop 20 feet to safety, Fretz said. Both parents were in critical condition with second- and third-degree burns; their daughter was treated for smoke inhalation and cuts, according to the hospital spokeswoman. The couple’s 17-year-old daughter, Cassandra, had been sleeping at another home. A second explosion in the area of the garage sent flames 50 feet into the air as emergency vehicles arrived, Fretz said. ‘‘It was visible for several blocks away,’’ he said. Firefighters forced open the door of the home next door at 748 Lehigh Ave., where two residents had already fled. The rescue workers left that home just before a final blast blew the roof off, flattening both burning homes, knocking down power lines and electrifying a nearby fence around four homes. Raul Tinco and Mercedes Raime, who fled 748 Lehigh Ave., had moved from the Bronx a month ago. They suffered minor injuries when their house exploded and were treated at Union Hospital. The couple appeared dazed as they prepared to walk back to the scene with friends yesterday afternoon. ‘‘It was so strong,’’ Tinco said of the gas odor. ‘‘She smelled it first,’’ he added, nodding at his wife. Tears streaked down Raime’s face as they stood in front of their ruined home, where the underbelly of the pine roof lay exposed on a mound of blackened rubble. The house sold for $345,000, according to a recent listing of home sales in The Star-Ledger. ‘‘They really can’t believe it,’’ said Edward Ayala, a family friend from the Bronx. ‘‘We had to bring her (Raime) here to see for herself.’’ The flames burned for about 4 1 /2 hours before firefighters from Union Township, Elizabeth, Hillside, Roselle Park and Kenilworth brought it under control. One firefighter broke an ankle and another suffered bruises, the chief said. The homes on either side of the collapsed Cape Cods sustained structural damage, authorities said. One of the damaged homes had been vacant and the residents of the other house were staying at a hotel yesterday, according to a spokeswoman for Elizabethtown Gas, which is picking up the cost of the lodging. The blasts frightened residents in the neighborhood of closely spaced homes. Joshua Lau lives two houses away from the fire. He said he woke up to hear people screaming ‘‘fire, fire,’’ and helped evacuate residents down the block. ‘‘It was blazing really strong,’’ said Lau, 22. Scott Christenson, who lives next to one of the damaged homes, said he was jolted awake by the sound of the first blast, called 911 and hustled his wife and three sons out of their house. One of his sons, Ryan, 24, had been scrambling to brush snow off a family car and move it away when the second explosion threw him against the vehicle. ‘‘I actually saw windows and debris and wood and pieces of house flying everywhere,’’ Ryan said. ‘‘That house was gone so fast,’’ his brother David, 27, said of the first home to ignite. ‘‘Within 20 minutes it was collapsing in on itself.’’ The family stayed warm in their idling van while firefighters battled the blaze. ‘‘It’s a scary feeling to still be here and have that hanging over your head, that at any time that could happen here,’’ Scott Christenson said. Workers for Elizabethtown Gas capped an 8-inch underground gas main shortly before 8 a.m., shutting off service to seven homes and four businesses on Lehigh Avenue, said spokeswoman Martha Monfried. The company expected service to be restored by late yesterday, she said. PSE &G shut off electricity to five homes — including the four damaged or destroyed by the fire — and a business across the street, a spokeswoman said.

JOHN O’BOYLE / THE STAR - LEDGER Union County fire investigator Gary Cantagallo sifts through the remains. Officials are trying to determine if a leaking gas pipe set off the blasts.

Blaze wrecks 2 houses in New Brunswick
Source: Photo: Tim Farrell/The Star-Ledger January 27,2005

 

Firefighters pour water on a fire that destroyed two adjacent three-story houses in New Brunswick last night. No one was reported injured in the blaze at the homes on Handy Street between Livingston and Lee avenues. The fire, reported at 8 p.m., was brought under control 90 minutes later. The cause remained under investigation.

Woman in critical condition after fire
Source: Jennifer Golson/The Star-Ledger, January 27,2005

A Rahway woman was in critical condition yesterday, recovering from burns she suffered during a fire the night before at a local senior citizens complex. Virginia Crawford, 78, was taken to the burn unit at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston following a blaze that began in her second-floor apartment shortly before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Battalion Chief Charles Amasio. The cause of the blaze at the Clifford P. Case Memorial Apartments was still under investigation yesterday by the Union County Fire Investigation Task Force. Crawford was on the floor, surrounded by flames, when firefighters found her, Amasio said. She was conscious when they brought her downstairs and had suffered extensive burns, officials said. While firefighters attacked the flames from outside the building by shooting water though the window of the tiny dwelling, acting fire Capt. Robert Fleischman, his brother Capt. John Fleischman and firefighter Ted Padavano were racing through the second-floor hallway, the passage filled with smoke. ‘‘I was ready to begin attacking the fire, but at that point, right at the end of that walkway is where Ms. Crawford was lying on the floor,’’ said Robert Fleischman, one of four brothers in the department. ‘‘We had no notification of anybody in the apartment. It was completely unexpected.’’

Fire is blamed on kids with matches
Source: The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2005

CARTERET: A fire apparently started by children playing with matches damaged two apartments in a Bergen Street home, officials said. No one was injured in the fire, which started at 8:10 p.m. Saturday on a couch in the living room of an apartment in the home, police said. Firefighters extinguished the blaze within 10 minutes, and contained it to the living room, but the apartment sustained heat and smoke damage, and an upstairs unit sustained smoke damage, authorities said. The fire was started by two children, ages 8 and 3, authorities said.

Perth Amboy blast kills 3; nine workers are injured in the gas explosion caused by leaking valves
Source: Tom Haydon and Ralph Ortega/The Star-Ledger, January 26, 2005

An explosion yesterday killed three workers and injured nine others, one critically, at a small Middlesex County chemical facility whose work force is made up a tight-knit group of relatives and friends. The 10:43 a.m. blast occurred as workers at Acetylene Service Co. in Perth Amboy were transferring acetylene, a highly flammable gas, into smaller containers from a large holding tank sitting on two flatbed trucks parked outside a loading dock. Acetylene is a colorless, gas widely used as fuel in welding and cutting metals. The explosion was caused by a leak around the valves that are used to fill the smaller tanks, Perth Amboy Fire Chief Larry Cattano said. The blast threw four workers on the loading dock several yards and was strong enough to knock out window frames and buckle a concrete wall, leaving a gaping crack about 5 feet long. A corrugated metal roof was partially blown off. Pablo Morillo, 29, and Ynio Perez, 35, died instantly, authorities said. The third man, German Gonzalez Vasquez, 48, died shortly after being airlifted to University Hospital in Newark. One of Morillo’s brothers, José Santiago Morillo, ran up to the police line outside the State Street facility yelling, ‘‘My brother, my brother! My brother’s in there! What happened? My brother’s in there!’’ Police tried to console the distraught man, who nearly collapsed at the scene before being led away by friends. The fourth man, Jovany Peña Gomez, was airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, where he was listed in critical condition last night. The four are all from Perth Amboy. Eight other workers were taken to Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy, where they were treated for minor injuries and emotional stress. Many of the company’s 14 employees were related or lived near each other in Perth Amboy. Pablo Morillo, the youngest of 13 siblings, was the brother of plant manager Tirso Morillo, one of those treated at Raritan Bay. Perez lived around the corner from Pablo Morillo. Peña Gomez is the brother-in-law of another of Pablo Morillo’s brothers. Perez was a single parent to four children and a stepdaughter, relatives said. His wife died several years ago from a brain aneurysm. He had a live-in girlfriend, who also has four children, they said. The four men had emigrated from the Dominican Republic. Gonzalez Vasquez, who emigrated from Mexico City 14 years ago, was the father of three girls and a boy. He and his wife of 25 years lived in a three-story home in Perth Amboy near the water, at the end of Brighton Avenue. He had worked at the plant for four years. ‘‘We spoke about the danger sometime ago. I wanted him to get another job with me, but he didn’t speak English well so he stayed where he was and he never spoke of being afraid,’’ Eduardo Rocha, 35, the victim’s nephew, a butcher, said last night. ‘‘He was very buddy-buddy with everyone at the job. They all knew each other, and they got along like brothers,’’ Rocha said. Morillo would have celebrated his 30 th birthday today. His wife, Wanda, is four months pregnant with their first child, family members said. They would have celebrated their second year of marriage in August. Tirso Morillo called his brother’s wife from the plant moments after the explosion. Outside Raritan Bay, Morillo’s friend Osvaldo Alberto said the plant made him so nervous that he left after working there for just two weeks a year ago. ‘‘Any little spark and that place can go,’’ said Alberto, 28, who now works as a warehouse forklift operator. Workers, he remembered, breathed through face masks and wore steel-tipped boots to protect their feet from falling tanks. While at the plant, he said, he worked with Pablo Morillo, who accepted the risks. ‘‘I told him this place was too dangerous to work. And he said, ‘You have to accept these things in life. When it’s our time to go, there’s nothing we can do about it,’ ’’ Alberto said. Stephen Morillo, another of Pablo’s brothers who rushed to the plant, said he previously worked at the company and claimed the business failed to take necessary safety precautions, such as using proper valves and tools. He said he worked at the company during a previous incident in 1996, when leaking propane and acetylene tanks caused a fire on the loading dock. The company owner ‘‘wouldn’t pay for the valve but now he’s going to pay for my brother,’’ an angry Stephen Morillo said of the owner. The company is owned by William Goodliffe, whose father , Robert K. Goodliffe started Acetylene Supply Co. in 1947. In 1984, the father started Acetylene   Service and sold it to his two sons, said Robert J. Goodliffe, who sold his share to his brother in 1995. Today the father and son share administrative staff in their main office on Route 9 in Woodbridge, which often leads to confusion about the two being the same company, Robert J. Goodliffe said. William Goodliffe was on the New York State Thruway, on his way home from a 10-day Vermont vacation with his family, when he got a call from the plant manager about the explosion, Robert J. Goodliffe said. He drove straight to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. ‘‘I don’t know what I would say to him,’’ said Robert J. Goodliffe. ‘‘We’ve never had any fatalities so we just feel so terribly for the families. We haven’t figured out what to do for the families yet. We don’t know what to do for them.’’ William Goodliffe could not be reached for comment last night to address the allegations made by the workers’ families. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Acetylene Service twice for what the agency termed ‘‘serious’’ violations. In 1996, the company paid nearly $6,500 for more than a dozen violations, including blocked exits and failing to have accident plans in place. In 2002, the company paid nearly $600 after OSHA found it in violation of safety standards, which cover employees who are working in closed spaces where they could be exposed to hazardous chemicals, said Kate Dugan, an OSHA spokeswoman. ‘‘For such a highly hazardous industry, these inspection reports . . . there’s not a lot to it. I would classify them as having a good record with OSHA,’’ Dugan said. ‘‘I don’t want to downplay any violation that we consider serious. I mean we’ve given out $11 million fines, and here we’re talking about $600 fines. And they abated it, they fixed it.’’ OSHA, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board are investigating the incident.