Firefighters injured at Verla plant out of hospital

All eight city of Newburgh firefighters who were injured at the scene of Monday’s explosions and fire at the Verla International cosmetics plant in New Windsor have been released from hospitals, the city manager said Wednesday.

Though home in time for Thanksgiving, the firefighters are “still reliving what came very close to being line-of-duty deaths, and we are working to give them the space to just be with their families,” Michael Ciaravino said.

Most of the firefighters’ injuries were minor — strains, pulled muscles, bruises — though one suffered a broken leg when a wall collapsed on him, and two others suffered burns, Ciaravino said.

There were two explosions at the plant on Temple Road in New Windsor — one about 10:15 a.m. Monday, the other about 25 minutes later — and the fire that followed wasn’t fully out until about 12:15 a.m. Tuesday.

One employee of Verla, 57-year-old William Huntington of Newburgh, died in the second explosion after running back into the plant to make sure everyone had gotten out safely.

More than 125 people suffered injuries, mostly minor.

The cause of the explosions remains under investigation.

The plant was cited for nine occupational safety penalties early this year and paid $41,000 in fines. In 2005, a fired employee shot three people at the plant, killing one of them, before taking his own life.