Resident
uninjured
in explosion
By CARL E. HARTDEGEN
Staff Writer
WESTFIELD – A city man escaped significant injury Monday when the stove in his Margerie Street apartment exploded.
City police report an 8:14 p.m. call that a stove had exploded. Firefighters as well as police were dispatched although the caller reported there was no smoke or fire.
He was advised to evacuate the building.
The responding firefighters report they found no smoke or flames when they arrived at the second floor apartment. Although there was a distinct smell of burnt hair, there was no charring or signs of a fire. Firefighters tested the atmosphere and found no carbon monoxide or gas in the air.
The resident, Thomas Cornelius, said this morning that he had been using the only functional burner on the stove just before the explosion occurred. “It must have been filling up (with gas) underneath there” before it ignited and caused a powerful explosion.
“It was more powerful than I ever thought it would be. It knocked me down” he said. “The whole stove jumped four inches off the ground and blew the top right off” he said.
The firefighters summoned G&E workers to check out the stove and report that when a worker tested the stove a similar explosive flash occurred. The gas supply to the apartment was shut off.
Cornelius is reportedly being evicted from the apartment but the G&E inspection found the explosion to be accidental.
“I’ve been complaining about the stove for two months. It’s been giving my wife and kid headaches” Cornelius said. “We must have mentioned it ten times at least” he said.
Cornelius said that his wife and two and a half year-old daughter had been away and returned just after the firefighters left. He said that is was fortunate that his daughter was not at home as she frequently clings to his legs.
He said that he was not injured by the explosion but said “it took my breath away in a strange way” and consumed all the oxygen in the room.
Carl E. Hartdegen can be reached at [email protected]
