Monday, January 06, 2003

1 dead, 3 injured in blast at N.H. recreation facility

By MIKE RECHT, The Associated Press

GRANTHAM – One person was killed and three were hurt when a possible gas explosion collapsed an elevated tennis court Sunday at an affluent recreational community, according to a doctor who treated the victims.

The victims, all elderly, were removing snow from an outdoor platform tennis court when the blast tossed them into the air, then buried them in rubble and snow shortly after 2 p.m. at the Eastman community.

Dr. Scott Irvine, a neighbor who lives in the home closest to the court, said they searched for one man for about 20 minutes, and found him buried in snow nearly 20 feet away. Irvine said he performed CPR on the man at the scene and during a 25-minute ride to the hospital, but could not revive him.

Two of the victims were blown over a 12-foot-high fence, said Fire Chief Bob Seavey.

Irvine said one man was treated at the scene, another was flown to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center with critical injuries and a third suffered broken bones. He said he thought three of the men were in their 70s and one was in his mid-60s.

Seavey said investigators don’t know what caused the blast, but Irvine said, “one man said they hit something with the snowblower and heard a loud boom.”

He said when he ran over from his home, next to the court, a stream of fire was coming from a propane gas pipe beneath the platform used to melt snow on the court.

The aluminum platform was about four feet off the ground and covered with about 20 inches of snow from a storm Friday night.

Seavey said the platform blew out in two directions. One man got out on his own, but two of the others were under a beam and part of the court.

Irvine said the blast shook his house, prompting his wife to fear it would collapse.

“It was so loud, she thought a tree had hit the house and she took the kids and ran out,” he said.

Eastman is a 3,500-acre recreational community in Grantham, about 50 miles northwest of Concord.

It has a golf course, 13 tennis courts, miles of hiking trails and 30 kilometers of cross-country ski trails. The community includes more than 850 single-family homes and 336 townhouse style condominiums, with year-round and seasonal residents.

The residents include many doctors and retirees.