Queens House Explodes After Propane Grill Incident

From MyFoxNY

An explosion rumbled through a Flushing, Queens neighborhood after a man was trying to empty out his propane tank. A neighbor said, "I felt the ground move. I thought it was a plane coming down. There was a big rumble...I was in my basement and still felt it. I ran outside and saw debris everywhere."

Over 100 firefighters responded to the scene. The Daily News reports that the house's front wall was left buckled while the back wall was blown out, exposing bedrooms. The home's 64-year-old owner was found burned and a woman was found in the rubble. They were taken to hospitals and are expected to recover.

The FDNY told WCBS 2, "We're not sure why but he was in the backdoor. The wind must have shifted and it actually blew the propane into the house, so now we have the propane in the house. When it hit an ignition point, it blew up." It's unclear what the ignition point was, but it could have been a light switch. Update: The house will be demolished today.

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By Jen Chung in News on October 27, 2009 8:11 AM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

Yeesh. Now I gotta send flowers with the "World's Greatest Cook" apron.

5borough

Check his finances. If he is broke, I'd say murder/suicide attempt.

shitshow

hold on while i eat some paint chips

Mr Mel

When I decided to buy an outdoor BBQ grill a few years ago, I started looking at gas grills. I live in a high rise and wanted it for my balcony. So I found the NYFD regulations on line. In essence they said no gas grills could be used within 15 feet of the wall of a structure. That just about puts every working gas grill that I've seen in Manhattan out of business. The danger here is not so much any explosion (which is of course dangerous) but it gives the homeowner's insurance company an out, not to pay damages. I wound up with an electric BBQ and they're really not as good as the gas units, but why take the chance.

zodak

hank hill was seen leaving the area

HOTCUP

it took over an hour for a hank hill reference to surface. i am disappointed in all of us.

Son of Spam

That chuckling sound you hear is coming from Charles Darwin's grave.

imadick

jen, do you see what happens when you change words? "open" becomes "trying to empty" and you have people saying the old man deserved it.

Spirit of 76

You'll get that anyway. Some people need to feel superior, as if they had never made a mistake in their lives.

Jen Chung

The Daily News now says, per FDNY, that the man was "bleeding" the 20-pound propane tank.

Snoopy

What I want to know is did he successfully empty the propane tank, or is there still more propane in it?

imadick

"he opened a grill-style propane tank and it blew up." he was probably just going to grill some burgers. the safety mechanism probably failed.

Kojak

The tank itself didn't explode, so I would assume that he didn't get all of the propane out. But perhaps he did.

He should give it another shot given how successful he was the first time around.