By JOSEPH KELLARD
When the explosion occurred inside Oceanside Institutional Industries at about 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 30, the main part of the box truck-sized boiler "rocketed off" and soared about 20 feet, blowing a 15-foot wide hole in an exterior wall. The boiler's end cap shot through an interior concrete block wall, injuring a worker in the loading dock area on the other side, said Vincent McManus, a division supervisor at the Nassau County Fire Marshal's Office.
"For some reason the boiler failed catastrophically," McManus said about the explosion that is under investigation. " ... This was strictly a mechanical explosion and there was no fire ... But a worker did sustain steam burns and other burns from being splashed from the water from the boiler."
The worker was taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where he was listed in serious condition for burns and internal injuries. Apparently, he was the only worker in the loading dock area, where trailers pull in and out to load and unload linens, when the boiler blew.
"Fortunately, that operation was not going on at the time, otherwise there would have been more people in the area," McManus said.
The Oceanside Fire Department was first to respond to the commercial building, at 2525 Long Beach Rd., on the border of Oceanside and Rockville Centre, and immediately shut down its gas and utilities, McManus said.
"When the boiler blew it broke the gas main and high-pressured steam pipes," said OFD Chief Tom McDermott, who reported that there were no injuries to any of the firefighters on the scene. "There was a high volume of natural gas that was pouring into the building under high pressure."
While no damage to neighboring properties was reported, residents at the adjacent Glen condominium complex, off of Franklin Place, said they were startled by the blast.
"I was heading down stairs when I heard it," said Maria Amador. "At first, I thought it was a bomb. After 9/11, and I work downtown on Wall Street, that's always in the back of your mind."
Amador's neighbor, Luis Quiroga, said he and his wife were eating dinner at the time. "At that moment, I thought maybe there was a big accident on Long Beach Road. But my wife said, 'oh, no, something blew up.'"
The impact of the boiler did damage other parts of the commercial building, putting large cracks in other exterior walls and knocking bricks and windows out. The next day, Town of Hempstead officials assessed the building for structural stability.
"That area of the building is closed currently until we get an affidavit from architects saying that the building is safe," said Susan Trenkle, a town spokeswoman, last Friday. "They are expecting they will get the affidavit next week."
Trenkle added that while the plumbing and electric in the north area of the building where the explosion occurred remained isolated, the south side was reopened for operations the next day. Officials at Oceanside Institutional Industries declined to comment about the explosion.
In June 2003, the commercial laundry service was the scene of a major fire, after acetylene and propane tanks exploded in a warehouse across a parking lot from the main building, and 20-plus OFD firefighters suffered injuries, with 11 being sent to Nassau University Medical Center with first- and second-degree burns. Officials investigating that fire found that hot laundry linens, which were being stored in the warehouse, in combination with the industrial-strength detergents, spontaneously burst into flames, and the fire's intense heat caused three acetylene tank valves to fail, allowing the gas to escape into the air and setting off an explosion.
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 287
