Date: Fri 11-Oct-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

truck-crash-explosion-fatality

Full Text:

Explosive Wreck Could Have Been Worse, Investigators Say

B Y S TEVE B IGHAM

Police late this week were still trying to piece together the sequence of

events that led to Monday's explosive wreck along Route 302 that cost the life

of a truck driver and sent restaurant patrons running into the night.

Those who saw what happened that night from George's Pizza & Restaurant say

they won't soon forget it.

At about 8:10 pm, police said David P. Wagenblas, 28, of King Street in

Stratford was killed after losing control of his westbound tanker truck as it

rounded a sharp turn on Route 302 near the Hattertown Road intersection. The

truck, loaded with gasoline, reportedly rolled onto its side, struck two

utility poles, then plunged into the George's Restaurant parking lot in a ball

of fire. The crash set off an inferno that blew up six cars, set the southeast

side of George's Restaurant on fire and sent everyone inside the restaurant

running.

Within minutes, firefighters from the Dodgingtown Volunteer Fire Company

arrived on scene and managed to douse the raging blaze. Eventually, more than

50 volunteers responded to the scene from all five Newtown volunteer fire

companies, as well as the Newtown Ambulance Corps.

The burned-out shells of six cars were all that remained at the scene Tuesday

morning. By that time, rescue workers had removed the mangled truck and the

driver's body, which was reportedly burned beyond recognition.

Route 302 between Rock Ridge Road and Cemetery Road was closed all day Tuesday

and part of Wednesday as clean-up workers assessed the environmental damage to

the area. Nearly 800 residents lost power due to the crash, according to a

spokesperson at Connecticut Light & Power.

Newtown Police Detective Robert Tvardzik said the results of Mr Wagenblas'

autopsy indicated his death was accidental, but residents and officials are

still trying to determine what could have caused such a violent and tragic

turn of events.

Mr Wagenblas, a trucker for Island Transportation Corp, was married just six

weeks ago, according to a spokesperson at the North Haven company. Family

members arrived at the scene early Tuesday morning to place flowers and post a

sign that read, "Rest in Peace Dave. We Love You."

The curve on Route 302 has caused accidents in the past, according to police,

but never one as spectacular as Monday's crash. Those who saw what happened

say it could have been much worse.

Fire Marshal George Lockwood said he arrived on the scene 8-10 minutes after

the accident to witness an inferno like he'd never seen before.

"Those people should count their blessings. If the truck had landed 10 feet

closer, the gas would probably have spewed into the restuarant," he said.

Fortunately, no one was in the parking lot at the time of the crash.

"Thank God it wasn't a Friday or Saturday night, our busiest nights. We

would've had a lot more casualties," said George's Restaurant owner George

Hoti Tuesday.

Mr Hoti estimated there were about 30 people inside the restaurant at the time

of the accident. According to Mr Hoti, the power went out and moments later,

Newtown resident Tim O'Connell, who had just finished eating, rushed into the

restaurant requesting someone to call 911. Mr Hoti ran outside and to his

horror, was greeted by towering flames and multiple explosions that were

reportedly heard more than a mile away.

"I ran back inside to get everyone out of the building. Some of them were

still eating," Mr Hoti recalled.

At that moment, waitress Kathy McKee ran for the restaurant pay phone to call

911, but got a recording saying "all circuits are busy." She tried again with

the same results.

"I then remembered that a waitress, Pam Tenk, had a cell phone, but when I

turned around to ask her, I saw the flames and felt the heat," she recalled

Wednesday morning. "Then I heard the explosions, one after another. It was

terrifying. You didn't know when it was going to stop."

Nevertheless, she said, people remained calm throughout the ordeal.

Unable to get through on her cell phone, Ms Tenk drove her car to the

Dodgingtown firehouse to inform them of the crash, about a half mile down the

road. Ms Tenk knocked on the door, but by the time Dodgingtown Chief Mark

White answered, the call had already been dispatched.

At the same time, Newtown's five volunteer fire companies were all conducting

their respective monthly meetings, so the response time of all the fire

companies was dramatically reduced.

"Someone asked me what it was like when we arrived," said Chief White, one of

the first to arrive on scene. "I told him to just imagine 9,000 gallons of

gasoline on fire."

The chief, who said firefighters will be on call if needed until after all the

gasoline is cleaned up, believes the Dodgingtown disaster may go down as one

of the biggest emergency operations in Newtown's history.

As bad as it was, though, the fire chief said it could have been a lot worse,

especially if the truck had hit George's, which was about 60-70 feet away from

where the tanker finally came to a stop.

Chief Lysaght said the work of the people in the community was "textbook."

"It was a very tragic situation, but I was impressed with the cooperation

between our police and fire departments, as well as the state police, the DEP

and the administration of the community," he said.

George's Pizza & Restaurant, which sustained only minor damage, is expected to

be open for business in two weeks.

Workers from both the DEP and EPA, as well as American Environmental

Technologies, Inc of Bethel were still on the site late this week drilling

holes and testing soil to determine the extent of the environmental damage.

The trucker was hauling about 9,000 gallons of gasoline when the accident

occurred. Nearly 48 hours after the crash, John Aceto, the DEP's emergency

response coordinator, said his agency was still finding high levels of gas in

the soil, which reportedly leaked into septic leaching fields.

The contaminated soil is being trucked to Waterbury, according to Police Chief

James Lysaght.