(9 Jan 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
++NIGHT SHOTS++
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fort Worth, Texas - 08 January 2024
1. Close of police tape
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Charlie Collier, witness:
"I was having a work meeting in this building right here on the corner. Um, that exact office, actually. It's about 330 in the afternoon. There was this large flash in what sounded like a big bang of thunder. It shook the building. The windows shook. That was my initial thought was that..That was my initial thought is that it was lightning. It's been raining earlier in the day, and this big debris cloud came down the street . From there, we ran outside to see what had happened and there was a very strong natural gas smell."
3. Wide of firefighters near scene
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Charlie Collier, witness:
"Initially when everyone went out, it was very hazy. We couldn't really see much, so we walked down to the corner where we thought that the explosion had happened and there was debris. There's insulation, there was office furniture, everything that was in the first couple floors. The building was blown out all over the street."
5. Close of Fort Worth Fire sign
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Paula Snider, witness:
"I was doing a pick up at the Fort Worth Club, which is 306 West 7th Street, and I had just come out that the stuff in my car, my package car, and I was getting back in and I'm at the red light at 7th and Throckmorton when I heard the loudest boom I could ever hear. And I looked up and underneath the awning at the Sandman Hotel, where the valet and parking lot is, was just a huge puff of black smoke. And I screamed. And then all of a sudden, when the smoke fades away, there's just debris and metal and everything just flying everywhere. And a piece bounced right in front of my package car and then went over and landed on the sidewalk. And then another big piece comes and it landed underneath my package car. And at that point, I'm dailing 9-1-1, it was 331 I'm dailing 9-1-1 to Fort Worth. I just took off running. I, I've never been so scared because I didn't know what it was. I didn't know what was going on. I was just trying to to get out and UPS come and got me. And I just had to come back and just see. That I can come back down here because it was a traumatic thing to witness. I didn't see any injuries. The lady that walked, that drove herself to the hospital, she was a worker. She did pass me. She had another person with her and I told her I hope she was okay. I saw a few sitting at the on the corner, i=up against the light pole, but I didn't get close enough to any of that. I was trying to go the opposite direction just to keep me safe."
7. Wide of police vehicles near scene
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Paula Snider, witness:
"I never dreamed that I'd ever be so close to something like that. I called my kids. I talked to my grandkids. You don't know how quick. It just flashes. It was just a regular day. And then. It was nothing."
9. Med of staff investigating near scene
STORYLINE:
An explosion at a historic Texas hotel in Fort Worth on Monday blew out windows, littered downtown streets with large sections of debris from the building and injured 21 people, including one who was in critical condition, authorities said.
The blast flung doors and entire sections of wall onto the road in front of the 20-story hotel, where rescue crews found several people trapped in the basement, said Craig Trojacek, a spokesman for the Fort Worth Fire Department.
Paula Snider said she has never been that scared in her life after the explosion.
AP Video by Kendria LaFleur
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