A Howard Beach homeowner was rushed to Jamaica hospital after a gas explosion tore through her home at 162-39 84th Street on Wednesday afternoon. Patricia Adams/The Forum Newsgroup
It was a gas explosion, according to the FDNY, that rocked a Howard Beach home early Wednesday afternoon, causing walls to collapse and sending one woman to Jamaica Hospital with burns over much of her body.
The house is owned by Joseph Pepitone and his wife Teresa, and according to shocked neighbors at the scene, was undergoing extensive construction and post-Sandy repairs.
It was shortly before 2 p.m. when neighbors say they heard a loud boom followed by the approach of emergency responders who quickly secured the perimeter and staged a battle with the blaze that sent 25 foot flames shooting out through the roof.
Hazy smoke filled the air more than 6 blocks away from the scene. Thick black billowed over streets closer to the blaze.
Neighbors lined the streets surrounding the blaze and witnessed the floors of the home fold into one another as firefighters wrestled with the flames from the ground and from and overhead ladder and bucket. The crowds forming around the blaze began to thin out as the heat from the blaze grew too intense to tolerate for those standing close to the scene.
The cause of the fire is being actively investigated. An update will be available in next week’s issue.
By Patricia Adams
