Thursday, 4:30 PM
House explodes in Easton
(Robert E. Klein for the Globe)
A firefighter doused a home with water this morning after it exploded.
By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
EASTON -- A fiery explosion leveled a home this morning where students from Stonehill College lived, sending flames shooting into the air and injuring several people, police and witnesses said.
"It sounded like a bomb, an earthquake and a sonic boom all in one,'' said neighbor Stephanie Yaitanes, who rushed to her front porch to see a pillar of flame from the home.
Six people were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, including the four college students who lived in the home, one employee from Bay State Gas, and one subcontractor from another company, according to Deputy Chief Allen Krajcik of the Easton Police Department. The most serious injury was suffered by the subcontractor, who was rushed to Brigham & Women's Hospital.
Bay State Gas had been working to replace a gas main all summer and had dug a trench in the street, said company spokesman Donald DiNunno. A work crew was in the process of connecting the house that exploded to the new gas main, he said.
"It will take some time before an investigation is complete," DiNunno said when asked what caused the explosion. "I can't even begin to speculate ... We certainly wish those that were taken to hospitals are not seriously injured and we hope that everybody is OK."
Photos from the scene
Were you there? Tell us about it
TALK: Were you there?
Home leveled in Easton explosionThe blast in the two-story building near the corner of Seaver and Jenny Lind streets shook the neighborhood shortly after 11 a.m., witnesses said. Keith Muise was next door when he said he heard a loud explosion. The windows and walls of the home blew out and the second floor pancaked on top of the first floor, Muise said.
A police officer who was working in the area rushed to the scene and helped three young men, who crawled out of the rubble, Muise said. After the collapse, there was a second explosion, and the house burst into flames, he said.
Mike Landry said he felt the explosion a few blocks away and rushed to Seaver Street and saw a "sea of flames." A man who looked like a utility worker was lying unconscious in the street covered in debris, he said. Workers building an addition on a nearby home ran to help the man, carrying him to safety on a piece of plywood that was used as a makeshift stretcher.
One Bay State Gas employee and four contractors hired by the company were on scene this morning when the house exploded, DiNunno said. The Bay State Gas employee was in the process of moving a meter from inside of the house to the outside, DiNunno said. The company, which serves about 289,000 customers in the state, received a call from the Easton Fire Department at 11:10 a.m. and rushed to the scene, he said.
The explosion reduced the home to a pile of charred rubble that was 10-feet high in places. The blast is under investigation by several state agencies, including the fire marshal's office.
Three of the students were brought to Caritas Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton and will be discharged this afternoon, according to a statement posted on the Stonehill College website. The fourth student was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The school president, the Rev. Mark Cregan, and several other Stonehill representatives went to Boston to visit the student, the statement said.
