By Abbe Smith and Lauren Garrison, Register Staff

MIDDLETOWN — At least five people were killed, including a former Old Saybrook police commissioner, and a dozen injured when a huge gas explosion rocked the Kleen Energy Plant, sending shock waves across the state and shaking homes as far away as Madison and East Haven.

The search for survivors continued late into the night Sunday and into today, as firefighters sifted by hand through concrete and metal rubble looking for construction workers who might be trapped in pockets among the piles of debris. The blast at the River Road plant occurred about 11:20 a.m.

“If they do find anyone, they will be buried in the rubble,” said Middletown Fire Department Deputy Fire Marshal Al Santostefano. He said rescue crews were essentially taking the building apart piece by piece.

Hampering the search and rescue effort was the fact that officials had no clear picture of how many workers were in the building when the explosion occurred. It was not known how many people are missing, because there are typically 100-200 people working on the site from various contractors, but they usually evacuate most of the people prior to the kind of testing being done Sunday.

Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano said the test being done entailed blowing pressurized air through the gas lines to get rid of debris and foreign matter.

“It would appear there were 100 to 200 people on site. Most of them were not affected,” said Giuliano. “You go to work in the morning, you expect to go home to your family at the end of the day ... My main concern is for them.”

When asked if officials were frustrated by not having a list of workers who were on the site Sunday, Giuliano replied: “I don’t understand that myself.”

The mayor said he couldn’t speak to the cause of the explosion, but said, “Nobody set a bomb off — it wasn’t intentional.”

Middletown police and fire crews were working with state police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to investigate the incident. Giuliano said investigators have ruled out terrorism and sought to reassure residents that no further danger exists. Continued...

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A steady stream of fire trucks, ambulances and search and rescue vehicles filed past the staging area Sunday afternoon headed toward the plant, a mile away. Buses drove down the hill and returned full of firefighters fresh from the search and rescue effort.

Union workers huddled in the cold at a staging area waiting for word on co-workers and protected from the media by police.

Dogs and thermal imaging devices were being used to search for people in the rubble, rescuers said, and parts of the building collapsed, posing danger to the searchers. The risk to rescuers was compounded by wind that was causing debris and sheet metal to fly around.

Officials said that there hadn’t been any reports of firefighter injuries.

When the blast first echoed through town, many residents had no idea what caused their walls to crack, their windows to shatter and their pictures to come crashing down.

Giuliano said he was walking out of church when he heard the explosion, which he said “felt almost like a sonic boom.”

John Gura was working at Stop & Shop when he heard the explosion, powerful enough to send pyramids of fruit tumbling in the produce section.

“All I heard was a boom,” he said. But when Gura returned to his home not far from the plant, he discovered a cracked window. His friends and neighbors who live closer to the river reported more extensive damage — cracks to walls and splintered window panes.

“It was kind of nerve-wracking,” he said. “I hope to God everybody got out,” he said.

One neighbor who declined to give his name said he heard the blast and looked out the window to see the rising smoke. He had no idea at the time what caused the explosion or where it came from, but the tremor shook his house. Continued...

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“It knocked all the knick-knacks off the wall, and the floor felt like it was gonna go,” he said.

Police officials were not releasing names of the dead because some families had not been contacted as of Sunday evening. However, among those identified through other sources as being killed was former Old Saybrook Police Commissioner Raymond Dobratz, 58, of Cinnamon Ridge, a pipefitter working on the job for a year.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who visited the site Sunday afternoon, activated the Emergency Operations Center in Hartford; it is being staffed by the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, the Department of Public Health, the National Guard and state police. The health department was providing tents at the scene for shelter and medical triage. The governor has also activated the Urban Search and Rescue Team.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, spoke at an evening press conference and said the federal government is prepared to work with the mayor and the governor in looking into the matter.

The plant was 95 percent complete and was expected to go on line by summer, officials said. There are no known previous safety issues or accidents at the plant.

The Red Cross has set up a family and victims crisis intervention center at City Hall. For more information, call 860-347-2577.

Late Sunday night, Mark Brinkerhoff, development and communications director of the Red Cross Middlesex Central Connecticut Chapter, said they had only had a handful of people come through the center.

Plants powered by natural gas are taking on a much larger role in generating electricity in the U.S. Gas emits about half the greenhouse gases of coal-fired plants, and new technology has allowed natural gas companies to begin to unlock gas supplies that could total more than 100 years at current usage levels.

Natural gas is used to make about a fifth of the nation’s electricity.

Daniel Horowitz, a spokesman with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, said the agency is mobilizing an investigation team from Colorado and hopes to have the workers on the scene today. Continued...

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The Associated Press contributed to this story. Contact Abbe Smith at 203-789-5615 or asmith@newhavenregister.com. Contact Lauren Garrison at 203-789-5614 or lgarrison@newhavenregister.com.

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