East Meadow family recounts escaping house fire, explosion

Officials say a fire broke out at the Seventh Street home around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, and minutes later those tanks exploded.

News 12 Staff

May 7, 2021, 10:01 AM

Updated 1,084 days ago

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Incredible video shows the moment propane tanks apparently exploded on the side of an East Meadow home Thursday.
Officials say a fire broke out at the Seventh Street home around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, and minutes later those tanks exploded.
Fire officials say one resident suffered a minor burn on their hand, but everyone else was able to get out OK.
A neighbor's doorbell camera captured the explosion, which residents say could be heard and seen from blocks away.
William Arsell says everyone was able to escape within minutes, but that the house is completely destroyed. He says the home was built by his father in the 1950s.
Among those in the home at the time was Arsell's mother, who he says has dementia.
"I got her out of the room, when the fire burst through the windows and as soon as it did that the curtains were up in a flash," says William Arsell, who lived in the home. "By that time there was a whole crowd of people here screaming to get out. I turned around and they were all saying, 'Don't go' and I went and got her, my dog."
Everyone, including the dog, did make it out OK. Arsell says his brother is the person who suffered the minor burns, and his mother needed oxygen for a few hours.
News 12 also spoke with a 73-year-old woman who lives down the street and ran to the home to alert the people inside.
"I know there are three older people that live there, and I just ran, I ran up to the house and I opened the front door and I said 'Come out, come out,'" says Candace Turner. "The older woman was at the door pretty soon. The fire was coming out of the roof."
Police say a neighbor's house was damaged due to the intense heat.
It isn't clear what started the fire.


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