East Northport adult home evacuated after gas leak

A natural gas leak at an assisted living facility in East Northport forced the evacuation of the 65 residents Monday morning, officials said.

Sixty-four of the residents of Birchwood Suites on Clay Pitts Road were evacuated to a nearby Salvation Army facility, a Suffolk County fire official said. One resident and three facility staff members were taken to Huntington Hospital for observation, officials said.

The emergency call was placed at 8:26 a.m. Birchwood Suites officials were aiming to return residents to the facility by last night, but town officials said code violations, including installing carbon monoxide detectors and addressing plumbing and gas violations, would have to be addressed first.

Representatives of Birchwood Suites did not return phone calls Monday.

A spokeswoman for National Grid, Wendy Ladd, said an emergency crew was dispatched to the scene Monday morning and found the leak was the result of "an improperly installed gas heater."

She said National Grid field inspectors had found "other violations," including problems with the facility's heating system that needed to be repaired before gas service could be restored.

The gas leak may have actually helped avert disaster, according to Pat Del Col, the town's director of engineering services. She said town officials who arrived to help determine the source of the leak found carbon monoxide levels 10 times above acceptable levels. No carbon monoxide detectors could be found, they said.

"They're actually fortunate they had a gas leak," Del Col said. "At least it was something they could smell and alert them that there was a problem."

Del Col said Birchwood Suites officials recently installed a new boiler and heating system without permits.

"Our hope is they will be able to meet all of their requirements and that we can sign off" and residents can return, Del Col said.

She said a plumbing inspector and a fire marshal remained on the scene late Monday to sign off as work progressed.

Fire officials said volunteers from East Northport, Halesite, Huntington, Huntington Manor, Centerport, Greenlawn, Dix Hills and Northport were dispatched to the scene, as was Commack Ambulance.

Rescue personnel used buses to transport most of the facility's residents to the Salvation Army shelter in East Northport.