Fire Rescue News - Gas leak, building explosion closes Route 27 in Edison

EDISON -- An Edison building that houses a law office exploded overnight due to a gas leak, rattling neighbors from their sleep and causing dozens to be evacuated near Route 27.

PSE&G workers were about 200 feet from the building, repairing the broken gas line, when the blast erupted at about 4:30 a.m., but no one was injured.

The force of the explosion was so strong, it blew the front door of the building across Route 27 to the front lawn of another house.....

“It was like a volcano,” said William Prima, who lives behind the building, the law office of Steven Boda.

The incident led to the evacuation of about 60 homes and business along the Route 27 corridor near the Highland Park border, said Edison Police Sgt. Robert Dudash. Many residents have returned home, though a few are still not allowed back into their houses.

A stretch of Route 27 — from Plainfield Avenue to Duclos Lane — is closed as PSE&G workers continue to repair the gas line. Officials are not sure when the road will reopen.

The explosion leveled the law office — a converted house at 1700 Route 27— and reduced it to a pile of singed debris that was still smoldering as of noon today.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the blast.

The incident started at 2:56 a.m., when a passerby called police about a crack in Route 27 and a strong gas odor in the area, Dudash said.

Emergency workers discovered a gas leak, and started evacuating nearby houses, Dudash said.

At 4:35 a.m., the law office exploded.

“Apparently, the building was filled up with gas, and some ignition caused it to explode,” Dudash said.

Residents who lived on Ovington Avenue — directly behind the blast — were suddenly awoken.

“I thought a car came through my house,” Toni Augustine said. “The boom was unbelievable.”

Neighbors rushed outside to see what happened and saw flames rising from the law office.

They said sparks from the flames were shooting out into the residential neighborhood, and snowflake-like embers filled the sky and covered roofs and trees.

“They were the size of quarters,” Prima said of the embers.

Police started knocking on doors, telling residents in the area to leave their homes.

Many residents left in their cars, but about 20 people were transported to a nearby 7-11 and then to the Edison Senior Center on Woodbridge Avenue across town, where friends and family picked them up.

The explosion also damaged the two houses on either side of the law office. The vinyl siding of one house was melted off, while the other had broken windows.

Officials said it has been about five years since an explosion happened in Edison.

“What a night,” Augustine said.

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