DANVERS — Angelo Reale came to vent last night.
"It's just been hell, believe me," he muttered as he approached the microphone when the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board invited him to speak at a public meeting last night in a ballroom of the Sheraton Ferncroft Resort. "I've been waiting for this for a long time. Since the day of the explosion, it's been hell."
He had trouble dealing with insurance companies and the banks in the months following the Nov. 22, 2006, Danversport ink-and-paint plant explosion. Reale said his 6-year-old grandson, who was upstairs when the blast hit, has been robbed of his peace of mind.
"Where he's living now, he says, 'Grampy, is this house going to blow up, too?' Six years old."
Reale spoke in front of more than 80 people that included top town and fire officials and residents, some of whom were interviewed in a board video reconstruction of the blast.
But what really set Reale off was a statement by Susan Tropeano of Safe Area for Everyone, a Danversport neighborhood association, when she said the average family lost $40,000 because of the blast.
"The reality is so many people lost their homes," Tropeano told the board. "Some people lost their jobs. Almost everyone lost a lot of money. And everyone lost time and a sense of security in their homes.
"Some families were split up. Many families were displaced; some still are today. Sometimes you feel like our lives are on hold until the last family moves back home. It's been 17 months. We hope it doesn't go past 24."
Reale, who lives at 23 Bates St., was out of his house for a year, his wife, Lauren, said. The house had to be gutted and is still being worked on.
Angelo Reale criticized CAI and Arnel for not apologizing for the blast.
"And the people that owned these companies haven't had the consideration to say, 'I'm sorry," Reale said. "Get on the TV or the media to say 'I'm sorry. I've had it.'"
Neighbors and prominent Beverly attorney Jan Schlichtmann, who represents SAFE, were on board with the CSB's findings.
"I was very impressed with the work they put in," Schlichtmann said. "The report gets it right in how the explosion occurred." He added that SAFE wants to get back on the site, finish up its investigation, before taking its next step.
In a brief interview on his way out of the meeting, an attorney for the Georgetown-based CAI criticized the board's conclusions.
"We don't agree with their findings for a variety of reasons," Paul Needham said. "We've had our own experts do an extensive amount of work with computer modeling, and we don't believe it could have happened the way they said it happened." He declined further comment.
