News

Explosion averted

JULIE LANE PHOTO| Firefighter clad in emergency gear prepares to enter a house at 169 Ram Island Drive North where the smell of propane hung heavy in the air late Thursday morning.

Quick action by Shelter Island Firefighters and workers from Piccozzi Propane averted what could have been a major explosion Thursday morning.

The near miss, which Fire Chief John D’Amato said would definitely have resulted in a  catastrophe, occurred at an empty house at 169 North Ram Island Drive. Workers at an adjacent house smelled propane and called in an alert at about 11:30 a.m.

Three trucks and two chiefs’ vehicles sped to the scene where it took about 20 minutes to determine the source of the propane gas leak, according to Chief D’Amato. An underground regulator had disintegrated allowing propane fumes to fill the house, he added. Left unattended, it certainly would have sparked an explosion, the chief said.

Firefighters were able to reach a shutoff valve and close down the flow of propane, but then called Piccozzi to permanently plug the area where the regulator had been.

“Piccozzi is good like that — they help us even though there’s nobody to pay the bill,” the chief said.

Within less than an hour after they arrived on the scene, firefighters were able to leave as Piccozzi workers stayed to cap the regulator where the leak had occurred.

There was no one immediately available at Piccozzi’s for comment.