One hour in downtown Durham: A strong odor. A violent blast. And a chaotic scene.
And
"It was putrid," he said.
At
The shock blew out an eighth-floor window at
Here is a reconstruction of what is known so far about Wednesday morning -- an attempt to view the disaster as a whole. This account is compiled from police and fire officials, accounts of bystanders caught inside the smoke and rubble, and from the hundreds who shot pictures as they scrambled to safety.
'A little worse than what I thought'
In the
Emergency crews responded to the gas leak in relative calm, according to radio traffic. A four-person crew from
But quickly, they realized they were dealing with a less-than-routine problem.
"Help us meter some of these buildings," said an emergency responder on police scanner traffic. "I think this leak is a little worse than what I thought."
At Kaffeinate, eight to 10 people inside were cleared out -- all except owner
Lee's children,
"The last we heard from our dad, he called us to tell us there was a gas leak outside and to let our staff and customers know we would be closed for the day," they wrote. "He was going to close up and make a sign to put on our door in case anybody came by later. He took such good care of the shop and was so proud of it."
Zoldos said he was "certain there were people they saved" because of the evacuation efforts. Firefighters went to get police to help get Lee out.
At
Outside the coffee shop, firefighter
At
'It's knocked down a lot of this building'
An emergency responder can be heard talking to a 911 operator, "We got a big gas explosion. It's knocked down a lot of this building, and I'm pretty sure there was someone inside. The person I was having trouble getting to evacuate, so you're going to need probably two alarms here."
Traffic camera footage from
"I heard a huge boom, and I thought lightning struck my building," recalled Leonard, the Duke student. "I opened my blinds, and it was completely sunny out."
As Leonard scanned the streets, he saw frightened people running away from his building, though he could not see the source of the explosion. So he climbed to the top of the nearby parking garage and stood about 100 feet from the remains of the building, where flames burned bright orange and smoke rose hundreds of feet high.
He shot a video and posted it to Twitter at
On the seventh floor of the Chesterfield building, around the corner on
"We felt and heard a very significant blast," she said. "It shook our entire building. Our power went out. Our desks were shaking."
Across the street from the Prescient building, Rogalski sat inside the
"All of those windows were blown out," he said. "People were sitting at their desks and ceiling tiles were falling. Stuff flew off shelves. You could barely see anything for 25 feet from the dust. People were screaming."
Roughly 100 people work in that office, and they had an emergency protocol to follow. Though many were bleeding from deep gashes, they filed outside into the street, which was strewn with rubble and clouded with smoke.
As Rogalski left the area, he caught sight of Sholtz, from the coffee delivery company, in the street, standing in front of the ruined building with his hand on his head. He snapped a picture of the man in red shorts and loafers, then shambled away while the wounded made bandages out of their shirts.
The damage stretched for blocks. The picture window had blown out at The Federal Bar a block away. Cars sat abandoned in the streets, their windows smashed. Styrofoam sound absorbers fell from the ceiling at
"I thought it was an earthquake or a bomb," said sixth-grader
Emergency crews poured into downtown blocks, crowding around the Kaffeinate building.
'We need a medic ... immediately'
The blast hit the first fire engine on the scene, Zoldos said, blowing out its windows and damaging the left side. But the truck kept pumping water.
Soon after, a responder is heard saying, "I have a firefighter injured on
Wheeler, the firefighter, was exposed the most to the blast and was severely injured, Zoldos said. Fellow firefighters pulled Wheeler and other victims to safety, despite suffering cuts, bruises, concussions and other injuries in the blast. A second ladder truck arrived shortly, blocking the street, and another crew from
Sholtz had been driving less than two blocks away when the explosion hit. He had smelled the strong gas odor, and he knew from the strength of the blast that it must have ignited. But he drove toward the sound rather than away, abandoning his car and moving toward Kaffeinate.
"I just wanted to help," he said.
The first person he saw was a woman trapped inside a car near the fire and smoke, pinned to her seat by the air bag. She had cuts from glass and shrapnel, Sholtz said, and he pulled the air bag aside to free her. He never got her name nor saw her later in the day, helping her off the street and moving on.
Next he saw a firefighter on the ground. But as he moved toward the fire personnel, he either grabbed or ran into a utility worker who was badly burned, his vest melted. Sholtz dragged the man away from the wreckage and, taking his cell phone, asked for a number to call. He tried the man's wife, then his mother, speaking to her on the street as sirens wailed.
"It's what I would want someone to do for me," he said later.
Within minutes of the explosion, social media sites were saturated with pictures of smoke pouring into the downtown sky and firefighters climbing over debris to douse the flames.
At
"Let's keep in mind we still have an active gas leak with an active fire," said a scanner voice. "Going to need to shut down Amtrak."
A few blocks away,
Leonard, Rogalski and Sholtz all survived the day, almost without a scratch.
But
In less than 24 hours after police announced his death, a Gofundme page in his honor had raised more than
By Saturday afternoon, the total topped
Contributing to this report were staff writers
___
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