"They dodged the bullet," said Nassau County Assistant Chief Fire Marshall Steve Wenk.
"Two or three minutes later or two or three minutes earlier, the results could have very easily been tragic," he said. "It could have been far worse. Very possibly they would have died."
Eleven firefighters were taken to Nassau University Medical Center burn unit, 10 were treated for second-degree burns to the face, head and neck, according to hospital spokeswoman Shelley Lotenberg.
One firefighter was treated and later released. None of the injuries was life threatening. Ten more firefighters were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and exhaustion and sent to area hospitals.
The fire erupted in an Oceanside commercial dry-cleaning plant around 4 a.m. Residents in a nearby apartment house saw smoke coming from the warehouse and called 911.
Wenk said that the Oceanside Fire Department responded to the scene at the Oceanside Institutional Industries, a hospital laundry facility on Long Beach Road. Two separate buildings in the compound were ablaze.
He said that as conditions inside one of the buildings deteriorated, a firefighter spotted a propane tank and an acetylene tank amid the flames. The tanks can blow up if exposed to high heat.
Wenk said the fire chief ordered the firefighters to immediately evacuate.
Two minutes after the firefighters scrambled to safety outside, the acetylene tank exploded unleashing a thunderbolt of fire that shot through the open garage doors and blasted them.
Fearing that others could be trapped inside, some 200 firefighters and dozens of trucks were called to the scene from surrounding areas.
Less than three minutes after the first blast erupted, the propane tank exploded, sending balls of fire into the night sky.
Wenk said that normally a search-and-rescue team is sent inside to look for anyone that might be trapped: "The firefighters were very lucky in that respect. They didn't go back in after the first explosion."
