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An Unexpected Explosion

After a nearby pipeline exploded, the terrific blast woke residents and sent them running for their lives.

Most people in Edison, New Jersey, did not even know it was there. And why should they? The natural gas pipeline made no noise. It couldn't be seen. It was buried seven feet underground. For 33 years, this pipeline had done its job silently and without incident. It carried gas from Texas to the Northeast. Ten million homes got fuel from it. It was like a good neighbor—quiet and helpful.

But on March 23, 1994, the pipeline made its presence known in an awful way. At 11:58 P.M., it blew up. The blast occurred near the Durham Woods Apartments. More than 1,500 people lived there. The explosion was deafening. It blew a hole in the ground 120 feet wide and 60 feet deep. A huge tower of flames shot 400 feet into the air. It turned the sky a bright orange. The flames could be seen 30 miles away in New York City.

The people of Edison had no idea what had hit them. Was it a thunderstorm? A tornado? A rocket attack? “I thought it was the end of the world,” said Barbara Barone.

She wasn't alone. Many other people thought the same thing.Said Kim Krajniak, “My first thought was ‘It's a nuclear bomb. We're dead.'” Terrence Reed called his father in nearby Piscataway to tell him that a nuclear bomb had been dropped.

The blast awakened everyone in the area. People jumped out of bed and ran for their lives. Many carried pets or babies under their arms. Some were so frightened that they didn't stop to put on clothes. Others grabbed coats or sweaters against the evening chill. As it turned out, they didn't need them. The heat from the blaze was a searing 1000°F. A few people took flashlights. But they didn't need those, either. The orange light was brighter than the noonday sun.

The residents of Durham Woods were scared out of their minds.“No words could ever tell you how frightening it was,” said Kim Krajniak. “People were running out in their underwear. I felt like an animal running scared for my life.”

People ran in all directions. Some headed for their cars only to burn their hands on the door handles. Some ran into the woods. Others dashed down the nearby railroad tracks. Those who could run fast pushed slower runners out of the way. Some stepped on people who had stumbled. Marlene Steinberg said it was “mass hysteria.” She ran like everyone else. “We didn't know where we were going,” she said, “but we kept going.”

Barbara Williams didn't pay any attention to where she was headed. “Nobody had to give me directions,” she said. “All I wanted to do was to get out of there as fast as I possibly could. And let me tell you, I ran like there was no tomorrow.”

The blast shook Joy Anunwa out of bed. For a brief moment the light blinded her. Anunwa pinched herself. She wondered whether she had died and gone to heaven. Then she opened her apartment door. “The heat was like an oven... It was right out of a disaster movie.” She and her family headed for the woods.

The flames near the apartments began to spread. The intense heat melted the tires of cars. It blew out car windows and scorched the paint. When it reached the playground, the heat melted the swing sets. Luckily, a 20-foot dirt mound separated the apartment buildings from the fire. The mound slowed the fire's spread. It gave people about 10 minutes to get out. Those 10 minutes saved many lives.

When the fire did reach the apartment complex, it burned eight buildings to the ground. It damaged six others. Toni Strauch of the Red Cross said it was like an earthquake. “One day people have everything,” she said. “The next day they are devastated.”

In time, firefighters brought the blaze under control. Still, they feared the worst. The fire had totally wiped out 128 apartments. How many people would be found dead inside? Edison's mayor expected the death toll to be high. He couldn't believe it when he heard the truth. Only one person had died. She was a 32-year-old woman who had suffered a heart attack. Many others were left with burns or injuries. But no one else perished. Incredibly, the fire itself didn't kill anyone. The mayor called it “a miracle of miracles.”

Still, the terror didn't die out with the fire. “I try not to think about it,” said Danielle Rhodes. But that was hard to do. The blast was imprinted on her mind. Four-year-old Michelle Varner also had trouble forgetting the explosion. In the nights that followed, she couldn't sleep. When her mother put her to bed, the little girl cried,“Mommy, when is the boom coming? I don't want to go to bed, the boom is coming.”

Michelle's eight-year-old brother, Paris, had the same fear. “I don't want to go back [to my house],” he said. “I just want to move somewhere else. They said the pipeline had a hole in it. But even if they fix that, it could have another hole.” Many Durham Woods residents shared his feelings.

But it is not easy to move away from gas pipelines. With its many branches, this one runs a total of about 26 thousand miles. Many of us live near this or similar pipelines. We just have to be more careful. Officials think the leak at Edison was caused by digging. Someone used the ground near the pipeline as a dump. Officials found 55-gallon drums buried there. They found a crushed car buried on top of the pipeline. They also found car tires and steel rods buried there. In the process of burying these things, someone had dug into the ground. That could have weakened the pipe and caused the leak.

There are laws against such random digging. You can't just decide to dig a hole in the ground. All sorts of pipes and wires might be running below the ground. You don't know what you might hit. There are maps that show where the pipes and wires are. Clearly, someone in Edison didn't check. The result scared one person to death. And it left others with fears that won't go away.