NEW YORK (AP) – The removal of a stove may have led to a gas leak that caused an explosion and fire that ripped through a three-story building in Brooklyn, killing a woman inside and injuring three passers-by, authorities said.
Firefighters received a call at about 1 p.m. Saturday reporting an explosion at a building in the Borough Park neighborhood. Emergency crews found the entire front of the building blown into the street.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered the state’s Department of Public Service, the agency that regulates utility companies, to launch an investigation into the cause of the apparent gas blast, which he called “the latest in a disturbing trend of incidents.” He cited previous explosions in Harlem and the East Village.
Officials suspect the blast Saturday originated in an apartment on the second floor, where a tenant had recently disconnected a stove. Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said no one had reported smelling gas in the area.
“We are told that the tenant purchased a high-end stove and they were moving out of the apartment and were going to take that stove with them,” Nigro said.