12 teens hospitalized after house explosion in Quaker Hill bungalow colony

BY ERIKA NORTON
MONROE — Twelve teenage boys were hospitalized Friday after an explosion at the Quaker Hill Cottages bungalow they were staying engulfed into flames.
According to Blooming Grove Police Chief Carl Schupp, at 12:15 a.m., eight fire departments responded to the explosion at 42 Quaker Hill Road in Monroe Friday morning.
Twelve teen boys were either inside or near the house when the explosion occurred, Schupp said. Five of the 12 victims were taken to St. Anthony's Hospital in Warwick, where they were treated and released.
The seven others were taken to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. As of noon Friday, two of the seven were still in intensive care.

According to Schupp, the group of teens had just graduated from a school in Brooklyn. The school bussed these 12 boys — as well as about 38 other students and a number of adult chaperones — to the bungalow colony for a weekend trip to celebrate their graduation.
While the fire is still under investigation, Schupp said that some of the boys reported smelling strong odor of gas while they were in the kitchen of the bungalow. He said that someone may have either turned one of the stove burners back on or turned it back off, which may have created a spark and caused the subsequent explosion.
“I don't believe they think it's suspicious, but it is still under investigation,” Schupp said.
The Associated Press is reporting that the school was Yeshivas Novominsk in Brooklyn.