100-pound propane tank explodes at Holbrook scrap yard, injures two

A 100-pound propane tank detonated at a Suffolk County scrap yard early Tuesday, injuring two workers and rattling homes and commercial buildings across several central Long Island communities. Suffolk Police put the blast at around 7:30 a.m. at Arrow Scrap Corporation, 1120 Lincoln Avenue in Holbrook. Employees were in the yard when the tank let go. Both were treated for minor injuries at NYU Langone-Suffolk in Patchogue.

For anyone who handles propane, it is a reminder of what a single cylinder can do when it fails inside a facility that isn't set up to store it.

The tank

A 100-pound cylinder is a common size. Restaurants and forklift fleets use them. They also show up regularly in scrap and recycling streams, because people cut up old grills and equipment without emptying them first. A metal yard is a bad place for one to sit, with torch work and shearing throwing sparks all day. Police and the Holbrook Fire Department both said the tank detonated with workers standing nearby.

Two people walked away with minor injuries. A 100-pound tank holds enough propane to do serious damage in an enclosed space. This one went off in an open yard, which is likely why the workers got off as light as they did.

The investigation

The Suffolk arson squad is running the probe. That is standard for any explosion, and it does not mean anyone thinks the blast was set. Arson investigators handle fire-and-explosion cause work whether or not a crime looks likely. What they need to work out is how a charged cylinder ended up in the yard in a condition to detonate.

Authorities closed Lincoln Avenue in both directions near the site while crews worked. Deliveries and traffic through that stretch would have been held up for the morning.

What to watch

Watch whether the arson squad traces the tank to a specific source, such as a customer drop-off, a bulk scrap load, or a cylinder already on site. That finding could shape how the yard and its insurer handle propane going forward, and it may draw a closer look from local fire officials at how scrap operators screen incoming metal for charged tanks.

Also worth following: any citation or code-enforcement action against Arrow Scrap. Nothing has been announced. If one comes, it would signal that investigators found the cylinder should not have been where it was, and it would help settle who pays for the damage.