Clinton, CT – A powerful explosion overnight leveled a mobile home, critically injuring two people and smashing windows in nearby trailers.
Leo Hinkley, 64, and his wife, 61-year-old Candace Hinkley, were pulled from the burning wreckage of the mobile home and airlifted to Bridgeport Hospital. Police said they were both critically injured with severe burns and other traumatic wounds.
The first calls came in about 12:30 a.m. Thursday reporting a large explosion that shook nearby homes. As officers went looking for the source of the blast, a person called to report a fire at the Evergreen Park complex. The first officers who arrived found the mobile home destroyed.
Calls reporting the blast indicated it had been felt miles away. Some took to social media overnight to seek answers about the explosion, and others reported they were awoken by the blast.
On Thursday morning, the mobile home’s lot was strewn with the mangled remains of what was once a mobile home. Smithereens of walls and furniture were scattered across neighboring lots. Joe Patrizzi Jr., who lives about 100 yards from the obliterated home, pointed to his windows all shattered and the metal skirting of his home, which was warped by a concussion wave he thinks rippled through the area.
I thought it was a tree coming down on my house, he said. I’ve never [heard] such an incredible noise. He looked out to see the home at Lot 11 up in a blaze.
Ray Szewczyk, who also lives close to Lot 11, said the blast was so violent you could feel it in here, gesturing to his chest. He said he thought it was an earthquake, the way his house shook and pictures flew off the walls.
I came outside, and when I first looked up I saw a little bit of flames coming down the street, he said. And then a few minutes later, everything was on fire.
The blast was even more jarring for Mary Hartson, who lives just two doors down.
I thought we were going to war, she said. Everything in her shelves and cabinets, everything hanging on her walls, was knocked to the ground, she said, and a large window above her bed was shattered. Thank God I have Venetian blinds, she said. They stopped it from coming down on top of me too much.
Though police said investigators have yet to determine the cause of the explosion, some neighbors believed it was caused by propane.
Freak accident it happens, Patrizzi Jr. said. Gas, anything. These things happen.
Crews from nearby Old Saybrook, Killingworth and Madison came to help. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire and secure the scene and its field of debris.
The state fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the blast.
In August 2016, an explosion leveled a home in Vernon. State investigators said a propane leak was to blame.
Though there were serious injuries, no one died. Firefighters had to dig through the rubble of the home to save people inside.
Debris from that explosion littered the nearby neighborhood.