Two workers hurt as house explodes in Water Mill, police say

An old Water Mill house exploded Wednesday after two construction workers cut gas pipes in the basement and the fuel ignited, Southampton Town police said.

The two-story house, on Old Country Road by Montauk Highway, was destroyed and parts of it could be seen hanging in nearby trees after the 2:15 p.m. explosion.

Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst said the two workers suffered "very bad burns" in the explosion that also blew out windows and doors at a nearby condominium complex.

Abner Canel, 18, of Riverhead, was listed in critical condition with "extensive burns" and wounds at Stony Brook University Hospital, police said. Rolando Perez, 40, also of Riverhead, was in stable condition there, with less severe injuries because he was coming back from taking out trash when the blast occurred, police said.

"The basement is the only thing that saved them because of the cement walls," Det. Sgt. Lisa Costa said.

Detectives are trying to clear up confusion over who was supposed to shut the gas -- the owner, National Grid or the workers, she said.

Throne-Holst said the owner had a demolition permit request that was "pending."

The owner, Michael Borrico of Manhattan, could not be reached.

Outside the burning house, the bloodied workers, their clothes in shreds, were dazed, said Austin Handler, who ran there from his nearby Mabley Handler Interior Decorators business.

One man kept pacing and the other sat on a snowbank, he said. The pacing worker was coated in dust, Handler said.

"I asked him if he was OK, and he said, 'My hands and face are all screwed up,' " he said.

"There was glass blown out on the streets, so I imagine he was caught in the path of exploding glass . . . The jacket he was wearing looked like it had been through a paper shredder. He peeled it off and he had a sweatshirt underneath, and it looked like it had been shredded."

The seated worker had the back of his clothes shredded and cuts on his face, Handler said: "He seemed to be in pain so I didn't bother him."

Two National Grid workers in the area heard the bang and rushed to the scene before firefighters, said spokeswoman Wendy Ladd.

"They were able to shut off the gas at the curb immediately so that would stop feeding the fire," she said.

Gas was "hissing" and rubble was ablaze when about 70 firefighters began arriving, said First Assistant Chief Chris Brenner of the Southampton fire department.

"There was a ball of flame, and the house was down to the foundation," he said. "There was glass across the roadway, and I had two burn victims who needed immediate attention."

PSEG-Long Island turned off the electricity, because live wires on the ground were making it hard for firefighters to put out flames, he said. The fire was put out in an hour, he said.

The 2,164-square-foot house was sold in December to Borrico for almost $1.1 million, according to CoreLogic, which collects sales data.

Jocelyn McKeever, whose mother was the previous owner, said she and her eight siblings grew up in the two-story, white Colonial.

After her mother died a year ago, the house was sold, said McKeever, who lived there until the sale and now lives in Calverton: "I was so pleased when I found out someone was going to renovate it" rather than tear it down.

The house -- surrounded by tall cedars, a large rhododendron, and daffodils in spring -- was built around 1915, McKeever said. "For this to happen is just very sad."