NORTHEAST HARBOR – An oil-fired boiler exploded Monday morning at a home on Manchester Road, damaging the basement area.
The explosion occurred just before 9 a.m. at the home of Nicholas Vanoff, a summer resident who was not in the residence at the time. A caretaker had left the building about 15 minutes before the explosion, but there was no one in the building when the boiler blew, according to Mount Desert Fire Chief Mike Bender. No one was injured in the blast.
The lower level of the home is a combination basement and garage, and the boiler was located in the basement area, Bender said.
“The explosion was pretty intense,” he said. “The crew entered the first floor and went into the basement. There was a lot of smoke and steam, but they determined that there was no fire.”
The explosion blew out the two overhead garage doors and sent pieces of the boiler flying through the lower level, damaging the area, the fire chief said. There also was a lot of water on the floor from damaged water pipes in the basement.
Bender said an inspector from the State Fire Marshal’s Office determined Monday afternoon that the explosion was not fire-related. Bender said it’s possible it was a pressure rupture, and an investigator from the State Oil and Solid Fuel Board was expected to examine the boiler today to try to determine the exact cause of the explosion.
rhewitt@bangordailynews.net
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