The explosion happened around 2 p.m. Friday at the Tradebe Environmental Services facility on Cross Street.
“As of now, we know there was a delivery of a low-grade oxidizer, about 4,000 gallons,” Scott Appleby, the city’s director of emergency management, wrote in an email on Saturday. “It appears the driver opened one of the valves and there was a large explosion, which triggered multiple smaller explosions.”
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Two of the three people injured in the explosion were discharged from the hospital Friday night, Appleby said. One person was still in the hospital Saturday morning, he added.
“We are cooperating and working closely with first responders and regulators,” Tradebe spokesperson Richard Bamberger said in an emailed statement. “Our prayers are with the three people who were injured.”
Crews from several agencies, including the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, were on scene Saturday afternoon as part of a cleanup effort following the explosion.
DEEP spokesperson Paul Copleman said the blast appears to have been caused “when a tractor-trailer began the transfer of a low-level oxidizer into a tank on-site.”
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On Friday afternoon, Appleby said, police evacuated a two-block radius around the scene of the explosion and told residents to shelter in place to avoid smoke exposure. According to Appleby, the air quality was determined to be safe and all residents and businesses were allowed back into the area Friday night.
Appleby said Saturday morning that water runoff in the area is being “constantly monitored,” also asking the public not to fish in nearby brooks “due to high PH levels.” Fishing can resume once those levels drop, he added.
According to Copleman, DEEP is continuing to monitor water runoff in coordination with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard. Drinking water supplies in the area were not affected, he said.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
