Fitchburg, WI- Mike St. John found his neighbor, Brian Grittner, seated in a pond of pink insulation in what remained of his Fitchburg home. Two explosions had just leveled the building, leaving Grittner prone and incoherent but alive.
There were two whumps a big one, then a little one which blew the windows in at St. John’s house at 2732 Lyman Lane at about 6:45 p.m. on Thursday.
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Mike St. John
St. John
GEORGE HESSELBERG, STATE JOURNAL
We ran for the front door, saw the cloud, said St. John, who then ran toward Grittner’s house at the corner of Cheryl Drive and Lyman.
The cloud was from the explosions that had blown up Grittner’s brick ranch home, spreading it like confetti over nearby houses.
When we got down there, he tried to stand up but couldn’t, but he sat up, he started calling out weakly for help, said St. John, who had arrived with another neighbor.
We called for first responders, amazingly two were already there, and we called out to him not to move. We didn’t want him to fall through the floor.
He was just sitting there, in the middle of the debris, said St. John. He was asking for help.
In the background, St. John said, he could hear the sound of something rushing, which may have been a natural gas line break.
I was surprised to see him, to see anyone, said St. John. The house was completely flat except for him and one thing, a 5-foot-high piece of something.