The Nation - News from July 23, 1987

The owner of a plumbing supply shop was charged with illegally storing tanks of propane gas that sparked an explosion and fire in Brooklyn, killing four people and injuring 35, officials said. Ben Stalzberg, owner of the 18th Avenue Plumbing Supply Co., was ordered to appear in Criminal Court Sept. 28 on four separate violations of the city building code and zoning resolution. The plumbing supply store, a bakery and a small apartment building collapsed and burned in the blast, touched off when a plumbing shop worker dropped one of the propane tanks down a stairwell into the basement.