Gas tank explodes at salvage yard, flies through air and crashes into Mass. home

Gas tank explodes, crashes into Mass. home

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — Authorities said a 50-pound gas tank dumped in a salvage yard exploded and rocketed into the air before crashing through solar panels and the roof of a nearby home in Bridgewater, coming to rest in a bedroom.

Bridgewater Deputy Fire Chief Thomas Levy said two people where at the Pond Street home, but no one was injured when the cylinder containing compressed natural gas crashed into the house just after 10 a.m. Monday.

Levy told the Boston Globe that firefighters at first treated the tank as if it were a bomb because they were not sure if it had come “from an aircraft or somewhere else.”

Levy said it appears someone wanting to get rid of the tank brought it into the salvage yard hidden among other debris.

Investigators are tying to identify the culprits.