Three men were seriously injured Monday afternoon after an apparent propane leak caused an explosion that buckled a Shelton house.
Police said two of the men — Gary Henry, 24, of Waterbury, and Randy Fera, 59, of Straford — were employees of Pioneer Gas & Appliance Co. of Shelton.
The third man, Luke Lauretti, 48, is a brother of Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti and a friend of the homeowner, Debra Duguid, who was outside the house with her daughter at the time of the blast.
All three men were taken from the scene to Bridgeport Hospital.
Detective Sgt. Kevin Ahern said at the scene that Henry was in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.
He said Fera and Lauretti were alert and conscious and were being admitted to the hospital’s burn unit, but had no further information.
Police said the three men were in the basement of the house, at 67 Wopowog Trail, when the explosion occurred.
“They attempted to light the hot water heater and that was when the explosion was,” Ahern told reporters at the scene just before 5:30 p.m.
Duguid and her daughter were unhurt, Ahern said.
“They’re a little shocked but they have no injuries,” he said.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the home just before 2 p.m. Several photos from the scene are posted below. Article continues after the photos.
The explosion threw the quiet neighborhood into chaos, as emergency vehicles jammed its windy roads and the scene was cordoned off. Several concerned neighbors stood in the street.
One of them, Bart Bakota, 20, was inside his house across the street at the time of the blast and said he heard what he first thought was a bad car accident.
He rushed outside and saw “the whole house in flames and smoke.”
Then, he said, the three men rushed out, “burnt really badly. It was terrible.”
Neighbors rushed to their aid until paramedics arrived to speed the men to the hospital, Bakota said.
Glen Spray, a resident of nearby Narragansett Trail, said he thought wind had brought a tree down somewhere before learning what had happened.
“I didn’t really feel anything. I just heard it,” he said. “I knew it was something big. Just one big boom, that’s all.”
Fire crews arrived to find a fire in the basement of the home that was quickly extinguished.
About 20 minutes after the explosion was first reported any flames had been put out but smoke from the smoldering basement still hung in the air. Firefighters remained on the scene for hours doing extensive overhaul work.
The explosion was so violent, Ahern said, it shattered one of the main support beams in the basement.
Parts of the house’s foundation were also visibly damaged by the blast, and its front porch bowed outward.
Officials posted signs on the building declaring it unsafe just after 5 p.m.
Ahern said details about precisely what happened leading up to the explosion weren’t yet known, but that new propane tanks had been delivered at the home Monday.
An answering machine picked up at Pioneer Gas and Appliance Monday evening.
Officials from the Shelton fire marshal’s office were at the scene for several hours Monday before a truck from the state fire marshal’s Fire Investigation Unit pulled just before 5 p.m.
Ahern said the state fire marshal’s office would probably be the primary agency investigating the incident.
