Firefighters Stop Propane Leak At Borough Shopping Center

By Andrew Gorosko

Newtown Hook & Ladder and Sandy Hook volunteer firefighters responded midafternoon on Monday to a report of a gas leak underway at a propane filling station at a shopping center at 5 Queen Street.

There were no injuries in the 2:43 pm incident.

The propane filling station is operated by Ace Hardware of Newtown. The filling station is located behind Caraluzzi’s Newtown Market, which is adjacent to Ace Hardware.

Hook & Ladder Fire Chief Jason Rivera, who was incident commander, said that the leak apparently was discovered when an attendant was filling a 20-pound tank with propane from a 500-gallon tank that is located within the fenced filling station. Such 20-pound propane tanks are used to fuel cooking grills.

Chief Rivera said the flammable gas was escaping into the atmosphere from a ruptured rubber propane filling hose. The hose is used to transfer propane from the large tank to a small portable tank.

The escaping gas caused a vapor cloud to form at the filling station.

Firefighters sprayed water from two fire hoses to disperse that vapor cloud amid variable-direction winds.

The cloud then became smaller, allowing the firefighters to move closer to the filling station and shut off the valve that was allowing the propane to flow through the rubber hose, Chief Rivera said.

After the leaking gas was discovered by a store worker, electric power to the filling station was cut off via a remote power switch, but the propane leak persisted, resulting in firefighters being called to handle the emergency, Chief Rivera said.

Firefighters called the Norbert E. Mitchell, Co, Inc, of Danbury, a heating oil and propane supplier, to respond to the propane leak and repair the faulty hose.

Deputy Fire Marshal Rich Frampton, who responded to the emergency, said that the Ace Hardware propane filling station is one of three propane filling stations in town.