Patients back at nursing home after gas leak

About 85 patients evacuated from a Center Moriches nursing home after a propane leak Tuesday afternoon returned to their residences before midnight, Suffolk County police and fire officials said.

Seventeen fire and rescue departments helped empty the Cedar Lodge Nursing Home Tuesday night, while experts mounted a controlled "burn off" of propane inside a 500-gallon tank buried there, Center Moriches fire officials said.

The department oversaw the evacuation. Burning off remaining propane typically involves using flare stands or propane torches to slowly use up, or burn, the remaining gas. That's an alternative to venting raw propane into the air, officials told Newsday.

Problems at the nursing home were reported at 4:15 p.m., Suffolk police said.

The evacuation took hours, and officials said patients who needed the most care were taken to hospitals, while others were taken to Center Moriches High School. Evacuations at the nursing home complex were started as a precaution, officials said. No injuries were reported, fire officials said.

According to its website, Cedar Lodge is a 100-bed facility that specializes in long-term care and rehabilitation services. A representative for the facility did not immediately return a phone call on Wednesday.

Police said the leak closed Frowein Road in the area until just before midnight. A fire official said the leak had been resolved and residents were returned before midnight, but could not comment further.