The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has opened an investigation into the propane explosion at at Shelton home Monday that injured three men seriously.
The explosion — at 67 Wopowog Trail — occurred when the men tried to light a pilot light on a hot water heater in the home’s basement.
Two of the men injured — Gary Henry, 24, of Waterbury, and Randy Fera, 59, of Stratford — were employees of Pioneer Gas and Appliance Co., based on Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton.
The third man injured, Luke Lauretti, 48, is a friend of the homeowner. He is the brother of Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti.
All three are being treated at Bridgeport Hospital’s burn center and remained in critical condition Tuesday morning, according to hospital spokesman John Cappiello.
Ted Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the federal Department of Labor, said Tuesday that officials from OSHA’s Bridgeport office “opened an inspection yesterday in response to the explosion in Shelton.”
“The purpose of OSHA’s inspection is to determine whether or not there were violations of workplace safety standards in this incident,” Fitzgerald said in an e‑mail.
“At this point, it’s too early to estimate a completion date for OSHA’s inspection,” Fitzgerald added.
He said OSHA inspections prompted by propane explosions are “infrequent.”
The explosion occurred just before 2 p.m. Monday, as the three men were hooking up new propane tanks at the home, police said.
They had smelled propane earlier and sent two of the house’s occupants outside but thought the leak had dissipated when they went to light the pilot light on the hot water heater and the blast happened.
“They felt they had ventilated the house enough,” Detective Ben Trabka, who interviewed Fera and Lauretti at the hospital Monday afternoon, said.
Damage to the home was visible from the outside — the front porch bowed outward and parts of the foundation were damaged — but inside was much worse.
“It was considerable,” Trabka said of the damage. “Every room had major structural damage. I’ve never been in a house that had that type of explosion. Fortunately there wasn’t a lot of fire damage.”
The state fire marshal’s office is the primary agency investigating the cause of Monday’s blast. A truck from its Fire Investigation Unit pulled up to the house just after 5 p.m. Monday.
