Nursing home employee recounts escaping explosion in Bristol, Pennsylvania: "I just ran for my life"
It's been one week since an explosion devastated a nursing home in Bucks County, killing two people and injuring dozens of others.
Huge piles of debris and rubble covered one side of the property of Bristol Health and Rehab Center seven days after the blast that displaced at least 120 people.
Darlington Geneyan was at the facility Tuesday trying to get his wife's car towed home. He said she's a nurse at the facility and was on the second floor when the explosion happened two days before Christmas. Geneyan said she's been released from the hospital and is now recovering at home.
"This is very devastating, every night she's having PTSD, she still can't get over it. It's very very traumatic," said Geneyan, who's a nurse at Jefferson Bucks Hospital but wasn't working at the time of the blast. He said his wife called him when it happened and he immediately rushed to help people on scene.
"It's unbearable, just to see what they went through that day, and family members coming and crying for their family was devastating," Geneyan said.
Tara Smothers also works at the facility. She said it was her first day back to work after vacation, and she was inside the building when the explosion occurred. Smothers said she's worked there for 38 years, starting when she was 15 years old. Her cousin was a resident at the facility at the time of the explosion.
"I just heard a loud noise and I just saw smoke and darkness, and then I just ran for my life and when I went out, I first witnessed my cousin, and the only reason I recognized him was from his hat he had on his head because his whole face was black, smoke all over," Smothers said.
Marlo Middlebrook said she was getting ready to make her daily visit to see her brother at the facility, and she was planning on bringing her 6-year-old granddaughter when she got word about the blast.
Middlebrook's older brother was a resident at the facility, her younger brother was there giving him a haircut, and her son was working in the kitchen at the time. The two brothers are still in the hospital, and Middlebook's son was released from the hospital Monday night.
Saber Healthcare Group took over ownership of the facility on Dec. 1. In a statement last week, it said, "We have worked to improve and fix prior issues, and we will continue that work in the wake of this event."
A PECO spokesperson said last week that workers had been on site in response to reports about a gas odor hours before the explosion
The National Transportation Safety Board has taken the lead on this investigation and is expected to release a preliminary report in 30 days.
Crews on site are accommodating requests by residents and employees to retrieve belongings.