Unfortunately, it was Buck and Sarah's house that blew up. The specifics are not all put together, yet, but we do know a few things:
- They all made it out alive. Sarah and Zane (the baby boy) got out with a few cuts and small burns. (Zane has burns on his ears and hands.) Buck was where it blew up, and a state trooper who got to the house pretty quickly, pulled him by his ankles out of the house. They said on the news that the cop also got burned pretty badly, and that if he wouldn't have pulled Buck out "he would have perished". Buck was burned bad, (about 15% of his body,) so he was taken to Utah to a burn unit. The people Luke talked to said that while they were getting him ready in the ambulance, he went into shock. I was up all night praying that he is going to be okay.
- It was an explosion! They reported on the news last night that the roof was between 25-30 feet from the house. It literally blew the roof off! We also totally felt it. Dave, my bro.-in-law drove by their house on the way to work, and he said there was debris in the trees and all over (you can/could see their house from the freeway.)
Immediately, several cars were driving down the road, and I was getting a little annoyed. For those of you who don't know, Dixon road is the small road next to our house. It is a dead-end, and there are really only four or five houses down there. I was getting mad, because, since it's a small community, everyone feels like they need to come and see/help. Well, it was a dead end, and the cars had nowhere to go! After realizing that there was nothing we could do to help Buck and Sarah at the moment, Gretchen and I decided to go to the end of the road and block traffic from driving down. We also saw that the cop cars and fire truck and ambulances were driving by, so we used our small lantern to flag them down. It was so cold (about 6*), and I was wearing my pajamas and a pull over fleece jacket. It took awhile for a police officer to come and help us block off the road. He also put out flares for the emergency vehicles. Crazy, crazy night. I am so greatful for a healthy, safe family and a warm home. I also think we had an earthquake this morning! Here is info. from the news:
Explosion Destroys Home Near McCammon
Posted: Feb 20, 2008 09:13 PM MST
Updated: Feb 21, 2008 12:41 AM MST
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House Fire In McCammon
By: Genevieve JudgeBannock County Sheriff's Deputies say an explosion in McCammon destroyed a home Wednesday night.The call came into dispatch just before 9 p.m. of an explosion followed by a fire at 1475 East Dixon Road. Deputies on scene say the roof from the home was found 30 yards away. A husband, wife and their small infant child were all transported to local hospitals. The husband was later taken to a burn unit. Local News 8's Genevieve Judge was the first reporter to get to McCammon. On her drive from Pocatello to McCammon she could see flames from the interstate. Corporal Jeff Young with the Bannock County Sheriff's Office was first on scene to the fire. He went inside the house to help free the husband from burning rubble. Captain Greg Rosa says he went into the home and pulled to man by his ankles to save him."I truly believe if he wouldn't have been so close to this residence, the man would have perished in this fire. I do believe he saved his life." says Captain Greg Rosa, with the Bannock County Sheriff's Office.Corporal Young was injured in his rescue and is now at the hospital. His injuries are not life threatening. Deputies don't know the cause of the fire or possible explosion and they're continuing to investigate. Local News 8 will continue to update this story as new information becomes available.
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Here's my thoughts from last night
Last night about 8:45 Dave and I were relaxing watching tv when we heard a big "boom" that shook the house and knocked things off the walls. I jumped up thinking maybe Mitch had fallen off his bunk bed. He was fine so immediately Dave and I started running through the house to see if everything was ok. Nothing was out of place but we knew something wasn't right. We thought was it an earthquake? Did that satellite they have been talking about fall out of the sky? Just then I got a call from my Sister-in-law Jeni who lives next door to me. She also was freaking out hearing the same boom and feeling her house shake! We ran outside to see if we could figure out what was going on. My thoughts went to my brother's propane tank they have to heat their house. I grabbed a flashlight and looked that direction but everything seemed to be fine. Jeni and I started to notice a "hot" smell in the air and then a county sheriff came racing down the old highway in front of our houses.
As we watched him drive by our house, he immediately turned around and raced down Dixon road, which is the side road of our property. Jeni and I looked at each other and our thoughts immediately went to our friends the Barnes family, who down Dixon road. We got on the phone to see if they were alright. When they answered Tracy Barnes said something had exploded but they were not sure if it was the neighbors barn or what was going on and that her husband Brandon had ran down the road to see. Jeni and I decided to start running down the road ....not knowing what two anxiety prone girls could do to help but we thought if it was a barn we could help get the animals over to our pasture. As we ran down the road we saw flames shooting up at least 30 feet high. As we got closer we found out it was our neighbors house! Buck and Sara Hedges. Panic immediately hit us knowing that they also heat and cook with propane gas and that they had an adopted little boy who I don't think is 2 years old yet. When we reached the Barnes'' house we found out for sure it was The Hedge's. It was complete hysteria. The Barnes girls were all crying, the neighbor across from the Barnes' was running trying to get blankets and water for the Hedge's baby Zane. The bishop from our church pulled up along with several other people from the community.
Cars started driving down the little dead end road... blocking the road . By that time there was just the one police officer there no ambulance or fire truck. Jeni and I figured the best thing we could do would be to stand at the front of Dixon road with our flashlight so the emergency vehicles knew where to turn (living in the rural country, there are no street lights no signs and it was pitch dark because the lunar eclipse was happening at the same time) and to stop people from driving down. Several minutes later fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, and one really weird looking army truck came. After about 30 mins a sheriff came and blocked off the road so we could go back inside. Here it is morning and we are still beside ourselves not knowing how Buck, sara, and Zane are doing. They lost everything we do know that. The blast leveled the house and blew the roof 20 plus yards. You can see debris hanging in the trees from their yard. I'm sure they are going to need a lot of help, they were a poor family in the first place. I'm going to go threw my house today and make a box of extra toys and anything else I can come up with for them. If you want to help them I'll let you know more as we find out as far as what they may need. right now I think prayers would be appreciated. So much for quiet country living hum? Here is the news release from channel 8.
Gretchen
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