Thursday, March 6, 2008

Tragedy Hits Close to Home

Yesterday, at around 1:30 PM my husband was at work, about 2 miles away from his parents house. His parents, my in-laws... we are very close with them, and their house is literally a second home to us. We lived there for a few years, and we know the neighborhood well, Hubby grew up there. We are there more than we are home! My daughter plays with kids in the neighborhood, and the neighborhood is very, very much home to us.

Where was I... Oh yeah. So, My hubby is at work, and suddenly they hear a giant BOOM. a huge explosion that rumbles through the building.

Turns out, the loud explosion was a house exploding, in his neighborhood, very, very close to his parents house.

You can find the whole story on wpxi.com, wtae.com, and even CNN and Fox News.

My husband drove over to his parent's house, and what should take literally 2 minutes took almost half an hour. The roads were blocked off and emergency vehicles were everywhere.

When he finally managed to get there, he discovered the windows blown out, glass everywhere.

A man was baby-sitting his 4 year old granddaughter. The man was killed. It's a miracle, but the little girl survived.

Here are photos I took from the news websites:





I also took my own photos from the scene. Thirteen of them, to be exact. Obviously I was not allowed to get too close, but I still managed to capture at least 1/100th of what was going on:

















This is my husband being interviewed by a reporter from The Pittsburgh Post Gazette.



You can see the reflection of gas lines still burning in this persons door:



The house was destroyed so bad by the blast, that there wasn't even one wall left standing.



News helicopters were everywhere.



Brian's sisters, Brian, and I helped to clean up some of the damage at his parent's house.



The neighborhood was crawling with gas men. They spent so much time at each house, we were giving them coffee. Reporters, news trucks, were everywhere. The windows had to be boarded up.

The whole thing was very... surreal. You see things like this on the news, but when it happens near you... it's just unbelievable.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

How awful! That poor man. Thank God his granddaughter survived.

Robyn Jones said...

That is very sad...I feel badly for the family, but I am very glad that the little girl lived.....What a horrible thing to happen...

SandyCarlson said...

The first of your photos says it all. Those fire fighters' faces are amazing.

Julie said...

That's really awful. It's tough when this stuff happens so close to home.

I thought your photos did a good job of capturing the scene.

Anonymous said...

thats so scary, im so glad your fam is ok. We had that happen at dover air force base near us. woke all of us up in middle of night. It ruined the foundation on 30 houses around it. Scary. That was so good of you to help out. Please keep us updated on the family. The one near us the entire fam was out of town except dad (he was changing the kitchen floor and him disconnecting the oven improperly caused it) but anyway, they needed so much stuff afterward. So please let me know if we can help in anyway.

Unknown said...

Wow, how scary...I feel so bad for the family, and that little girl.
You did a great service here though just reminding us all that it can happen to us.
Execellent TT.

Anonymous said...

Wow, so sad for the Grandpa but thank goodness no one else got hurt...

suchsimplepleasures said...

how horrifying!! that is, without a doubt, something that would be an exceptionally surreal event!
so glad that the girl lived!
those photos were great!

Anonymous said...

How awful! What a tragedy.

ConverseMomma said...

How tragic. You must have been freaking out.

Anonymous said...

Terrible!
I want to go hug my kids and family right now...

Anonymous said...

Wow! Thats horrible :(

Burgh Baby said...

I seriously need to pull my head out from under its rock more often. I completely missed this and am very ashamed about it.

The photos are amazing, but the situation is horrifying.

Kitty said...

OMG I can't believe that happened and thank goodness your in-laws weren't hurt.I feel so sorry for that man.I am so glad the 4 year old survived but what horrible memories she;ll have.

Anonymous said...

I believe I have won your award! Yea me!

Anonymous said...

Holy cow! That is truly awful. I'm glad your family is okay. That little girl and her family are in my thoughts tonight.

Anonymous said...

just saw this on the news, it almost looks like an asteroid landed there.

-michelle (won't let me log on)

Anonymous said...

I can't believe the little girl survived something that truly destroyed the house. That's nothing short of a miracle.

Juliana said...

Hi Mandy,

Hope you have time to read my post today, I am leaving tomorrow Thanks.

Anonymous said...

yikes...when i read about this in the paper, it seemed like "just another tragedy". reading it here hits home.