History and mysteries · Oak Avenue, Stafford Township
Stafford: gas followed a water line into a house (2015)
Documented history · Source reviewed
The origin investigation traced an underground route between a leaking street main and the basement where the gas ignited.
The warning before the blast
On February 24, 2015, Stafford police and firefighters responded to a strong gas odor near Route 9 and Oak Avenue. Responders began evacuating nearby buildings while utility workers tried to locate the leak. The explosion occurred about ninety minutes after the initial dispatch.
WHYY’s next-day account, quoting the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, places the origin in a house’s utility room. Investigators said gas from a two-inch street main traveled along the water-service route into the basement and ignited at the building’s utilities.
An accidental classification
The prosecutor’s office classified the explosion as accidental. The strongest odor had initially been detected outside a different nearby address, making the reported migration route important to understanding the event.
The account records injuries among utility workers and emergency personnel. It does not establish the underlying reason the main leaked or resolve questions of civil responsibility. “Accidental” describes the reported origin-and-cause conclusion; it is not a finding that no preventable failure occurred.
Sources and research limits
WHYY, February 25, 2015, reporting the prosecutor’s findings. The article was read in full. The underlying complete forensic and utility-maintenance files were not obtained.