By Terry Wright | Hunterdon County Democrat
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on September 19, 2014 at 3:46 PM

RARITAN TWP. – Six people escaped injury when a natural gas explosion caused a fire in an Old York Road home this morning.

The blast rocked the neighborhood and caused a fire in the house, but that was quickly extinguished, Chief Steve Wetter of the Raritan Township Fire Company said.

Three members of the McCartney family — a married couple and their baby — escaped, as did three workmen, township police reported.

The family had moved into the house at 243 Old York Road — between Reaville and Voorhees Corner — a little over a year ago. The workers were in the process of converting it from oil heat to gas, according to people at the scene.

The cause of the blast, reported around 9:40 a.m. Friday, remains under investigation, police and Chief Wetter said. Elizabeth Gas Co. first-responders arrived at the scene and are also probing the cause, said Duane Bourne, a spokesman for Elizabethtown parent company AGL Resources.

Firefighters were on the scene for more than two hours, making sure all the fire was extinguished and helping the homeowners salvage possessions, Wetter said. They included a large collection of comic books, which firemen spread out on a piece of plastic sheeting on the front lawn.

“It shook my house,” next-door neighbor John Schrade of 245 Old York Road said of the explosion.

“I feel for the victims,” he said, adding that the mother and baby stayed in his home as the firefighters did their work. He was impressed by how quickly the police and firemen arrived, he said.

When he rushed outside on hearing the blast, he saw flames and smoke in the garage, which faces his home. The two houses share a paved driveway.

Two older children in the McCartney family were at school when the explosion took place, Schrade said.

Michael and Johanna McCartney bought the house from Nicholas Celeste in July 2013 for around $400,000, according to online property records. It was built in 1988.

Multiple fire companies responded to the alarm. Besides Raritan Township, they included crews from Three Bridges, Sergeantsville, West Amwell Township, Quakertown, Readington and Whitehouse. The Tanker Task Force was activated to haul in water, because the area is not served by hydrants, Wetter said.

Fire damage to the house was mainly in the basement and garage, he reported. Glass in many windows in both the front and the back of the dwelling was blown out by the blast and the frames of others were broken, police said.

The house is on Old York Road between the north and south ends of the U-shaped Mott Way Road, and township Fire Police blocked off Old York Road between the two ends of the side street. Motorists were detoured while fire trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles were on the road near the house.

Wetter said the township fire officials will determine the cause of the explosion and fire, and construction officials would decide if the house is habitable.

Terry Wright may be reached at twright@hcdemocrat.com. Follow @njdotcomon Twitter. Find The Hunterdon County Democrat on Facebook.

A gas explosion and fire damaged a home in Raritan Township Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. (Terry Wright | Hunterdon County Democrat)