Chemical Caused Rock Explosion At Jersey City Construction Site; Officials Say
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- An accident at a construction site set off an explosion rattling a quiet New Jersey neighborhood.
Officials said a crew was handling an explosive chemical when they were not supposed to be doing any work at all.
As CBS2's Alice Gainer reported, white smoke was still puffing into the sky on Thursday afternoon, hours after a chemical was poured into drilled holes.
"It's a type of mortar that they pour into some bored out holes to break up the rock basically. It reacted in a way it wasn't supposed to, and that's why we're here right now," a Jersey City fire official said.
Fire officials said the chemical is called damite.
When it reacted poorly it sent rocks flying into the air, breaking windows in a neighboring building.
No one was hurt, but they evacuated the building next to the site.
He said it will take hours for the reaction to stop.
"There's one just went off now, and you'll see that going on for another hour," he said.
The construction company is Hollister Construction Services.
Earlier in the day the Building Department had shut down the site, and was cited with failure to protect the adjoining property from work they were doing with a jackhammer.
"They poured this product in. The site was shut down and then they left, and then it started reacting," he said.
