Video, Recordings Capture Moments Before, After Realty Tower Explosion

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Door camera video provided by Realty Tower tenant Deanna Rossi shows activities minutes before the natural gas line explosion that tore through the building at 2:44 p.m. Tuesday.

Rossi, who has been a Realty Tower resident for more than a decade, leases space on the top two floors of the building. She is the branch office supervisor of Transamerica Financial Advisors’ downtown office across the street.

A video at 2:41 p.m. shows Rossi’s neighbor on the 12th floor, Ashia Simmons, leaving with her son, Amyr, down the east stairwell. Video a minute later shows Rossi’s son, Vito Colella, exiting via the exterior stairwell on the south side of the building, which was added during its most recent renovation.

A 2:44 p.m. video shows the effects of the explosion tearing through the floor through the elevators. Firefighters are seen entering the 12th floor during video captured at 3:22 p.m. that shows the distorted elevator doors and other damage resulting from the blast.

Recordings Reveal Rapid Response to Explosion

Recordings obtained by The Business Journal show that the first 911 call to the city’s emergency dispatcher came at 2:40 p.m. from Nationwide in response to a fire alarm at Realty Tower, four minutes before a gas explosion ripped through the building, killing one person.

Seconds later, another call is made to 911 to report a gas leak at the Realty Building: “We have a gas leak right next to the Chase Bank,” a distressed voice could be heard saying. “Natural gas you mean?” the dispatcher responds. “Natural gas, yes.”

At 2:42, an alert was relayed to the Youngstown Fire Department regarding a “report of a pulsation fire alarm and a gas leak, unknown apartment,” at Realty Tower. A second alert was relayed at 2:43 p.m. as crews responded.

One minute later, a female dispatcher is heard alerting the department, “Radio to Battalion One, radio to Battalion One. PD just called up and said that’s a gas explosion. We just had a gust of wind down here.” Within a minute, crews were near the scene reporting “a lot of smoke,” according to emergency recordings.

Approximately two minutes later, Ladder 22 requests assistance from multiple ambulance services: “We got victims, sublevel, trapped.” At 2:48, the dispatcher is informed by Chief Barry Finley that he “was on his way downtown,” and then she alerts “all companies, all fire department’s ladders respond to 47 Central Square for gas explosion – multiple victims, EMT is en route.”

Seconds later, a fireman at the scene relays: “There are reports of multiple people trapped in the basement – rescued one; we’re working on the second.” A hissing noise, presumed to be releasing gas, can be heard on the audio.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.