STAMFORD — A house on Webbs Hill Road is “totally gone” after an explosion, and the homeowner, who was outside at the time, was taken to a hospital, official said.
The house was leveled and an underground 500-gallon propane tank — which is being investigated as a possible cause of the explosion — continued burning for more than four hours after the explosion, said Ted Jankowski, Stamford’s director of public safety.
“It’s like going to hell,” he said of the propane fire during a press conference Tuesday evening.
The fire in the tank was reduced to a controlled burn but could not be fully extinguished until all the propane burned off, Jankowski said. The house received a delivery of 280 gallons of propane about a month ago, he said.
The explosion at 305 Webbs Hill Road happened at about 2 p.m., and a next door house was damaged, said Police Chief Jonathan Fontneau. A woman in a neighboring home who called police thought the explosion was an earthquake, he said.
Officials had not determined what caused the blast as of Tuesday evening, but a “combustible gas” is suspected, Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia said.
Debris was strewn for hundreds of feet, Pavia said.
The homeowner was outside near a pool house when the home exploded, Jankowski said. He was treated and brought to Stamford hospital. Fontneau said that the homeowner had no visible injuries, but that he was still at the hospital Tuesday evening and had been speaking with investigators.
The area is considered a crime scene as the investigation continues, Pavia said. Officials said that the investigation will likely go on for days. It could be “some time” before the roads are opened, Jankowski said Tuesday evening.
The house was purchased in 2006 for $1.1 million by Guiseppe Cardillo, according to the Stamford assessor’s office. It was assessed at nearly $657,000 and has six bedrooms and more than 6,000 square feet of living area.
Fire departments from the surrounding area, including New Canaan and Pound Ridge, N.Y., came to assist. The Stamford police and fire marshal, as well as the state fire marshal and an arson investigation team were investigating the scene on Tuesday.
Hartford Courant