Yesterday afternoon, an explosion ripped apart a home in Syosset, injuring a 48-year-old guidance counselor. According to Newsday, owner Brian Welsh was "found dazed, badly hurt and speaking incoherently on the front lawn." Fire officials said the roof and floor collapsed and the walls caved in; it's believed the explosion may have been caused by a gas leak.
Welsh, a guidance counselor at Half Hollow Hills High School, was flown to Nassau University Medical Center for burns all over his body. WABC 7 reports, "Around noon he'd been in the basement reportedly cleaning his gas clothes dryer when something caused a spark and blew up his house."
His sister-in-law said Welsh would need skin grafts; his wife and children were not at home at the time. A neighbor said, "It was a big boom, and I could feel it inside my chest. We went outside and looked over and we saw the roof all shaken up. I don't even know how to describe it."
