(Twitter: @FDNY)
A giant gas explosion blew a Howard Beach home, that had been damaged by Hurricane Sandy, into a mountain of smoking cinders this afternoon, critically injuring an elderly woman inside, authorities said.
The 2 p.m. blast knocked a giant hole through the roof and knocked down the walls. .
Firefighters arrived within minutes to find the walls collapsed at 163 -40 84th St.
Anthony Mignone, a neighbor, said the elderly woman, Theresa Sandy Pipitone and her husband Joe, a retired cop, lived at that address, but wasn’t home at the time.
“I saw flames and came running. The whole house was burning. The woman who lives there was out on the street just wandering. She wasn’t screaming or anything, she was just wandering, like she was in shock.
“She looked like a zombie from a movie- pure white. She looked like she was wearing latex gloves but it was her skin. Her hair was burnt to her head like melted plastic glued to her head and blacken. Her pants were all burnt.”
The woman was taken to Jamaica Hospital with severe burns and the raging fire was under control by 3:15 p.m.
Responders are still trying to determine the cause of the blaze.
A Dept. of Buildings spokeswoman confirmed that the house had work done on it through the city’s Rapid Repairs program, which helps homeowners repair damages.
A furnace and some electrical wiring had been replaced. It was not celclear what caused this afternoon’s explosion.