By Hector Flores
First Assistant Fire Chief John O'Brien said that the leak occurred at 4:58 p.m., when the tank's relief valve was sheared by a bulldozer digging a pool at 581 Richmond Road. When the leak was discovered, homeowners immediately called the fire department, which dispatched four engines, two ladder companies, two ambulances and all four department chiefs.
"The escaping gas posed an immediate threat,² O¹Brien said. ³Had the gas continued to leak and found an ignition source, it would have had the impact of an explosion."
Chris Sala, chief of the department, decided that the best way to deal with the leak was to burn off the propane. "We called the Nassau County Fire Marshal¹s office for their assistance to do a propane burnoff," he said. "We were able to burn out the remaining propane in the tank. We also had the assistance of the Atlantic Gas Company, which later came in and blocked the tank closed."
Firefighters and hazardous materials technicians assembled the burnoff equipment to direct the escaping vapors to a remote area of the yard. The operation took 19 hours because of the size of the tank and the amount of propane involved.
"Firefighters worked in shifts, maintaining a watchful presence," said O'Brien. "At approximately 10 a.m. [Wednesday] ... gas company technicians arrived on the scene, and plans to cap the balance of the tank were under way. In all, 86 member of the East Meadow Volunteer Fire Department responded to the emergency."
Comments about this story? HFlores@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
