Uncertainty in search after deadly Conn. blast

February 8, 2010

Anonymous The Goshen News Mon Feb 08, 2010, 10:12 AM EST

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — A power plant explosion that killed at least five people left a section of the building too unstable for rescue crews to determine whether everyone was accounted for, a fire official said Monday.

Piles of rubble were 10 feet tall in some parts of the plant, and mounds of rubble and debris were everywhere, said Middletown Deputy Fire Marshal Al Santostefano. On Sunday night, he had said no one was missing but by Monday morning, he said, the extent of the damage was clearer and officials realized there was a section of building that could not be searched.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell said Monday morning that officials still haven't received rosters of workers who were at the Kleen Energy Systems plant Sunday, and Santostefano said he didn't know when emergency crews would be able to search the unstable area.

"There are a number of contractors who do the work at the building," Rell told WTNH-TV. "Until we actually have a roster of the names of those individuals that are in each of those groups and who was working on Sunday, we need that before we can do anything else. ... We're still confirming the number of people."

Santostefano added, "There's still uncertainly about who came in and who didn't come in yesterday."

Local fire investigators and federal authorities on Monday were expected to begin their investigation into what caused Sunday morning's explosion at the plant in Middletown, about 20 miles south of Hartford.

A dozen or more others were hurt in the blast, which happened as gas lines were being tested. The explosion was so powerful it alarmed residents who heard the boom and felt tremors in their homes miles away.

The blast left huge pieces of metal that once encased the plant peeling off its sides. A large swath of the structure was blackened and surrounded by debris, but the building, its roof and its two smokestacks were still standing at the site, which is near Wesleyan University on a wooded and hilly 137-acre parcel of land overlooking the Connecticut River.

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Uncertainty in search after deadly Conn. blast

The Goshen Housing Authority has a $571,050 shortfall. Should the Goshen City Council use money from its $4.7-million “rainy day” fund to pay the debt and maintain the current level of service provided by the voucher program?

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