BRISTOL, Pa. — Huge piles of debris and rubble remain scattered across the property of Bristol Health and Rehab Center, a stark reminder of the deadly explosion a week ago that rocked the facility and left a resident and an employee dead.
Darlington Geneyan was at the facility on Tuesday trying to get his wife's car towed home. His wife is a nurse at the facility and was working on the second floor when the explosion occurred. She has since been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.
"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.
The emotional toll continues to weigh heavily on his wife.
"This is very devastating, every night she's having PTSD, she still can't get over it. It's very very traumatic," he said.
Tara Smothers was inside the building when the blast happened on Tuesday, Dec. 23. She has worked at the facility for 38 years, starting when she was just 15 years old. Her cousin was a resident at the time of the explosion.
"This is a second home to me, more like first home because I'm here more than I'm at my home, so it's very sad," Smothers said.
"I just heard a loud noise. And I just saw smoke and darkness," Smothers recalled. "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 is from his hat... His whole face was black, smoke all over."
Marlo Middlebrook was preparing to make her daily visit to see her brother at the facility and planned to bring her 6-year-old granddaughter when she learned about the blast.
"We would have been in there, we would have been in that building. I think about my granddaughter," Middlebrook said.
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 cafeteria at the time of the explosion. The two brothers remain hospitalized.
"My son came home last night, thank god. He's on a walker," she said.
Saber Healthcare Group took over ownership of the facility on Dec. 1. In a statement last week, the company said it "worked to improve and fix prior issues, and we will continue that work in the wake of this event."
A PECO spokesperson stated that workers had been at the facility in response to reports of a gas smell hours before the explosion.
The National Transportation Safety Board has taken the lead on the investigation. A preliminary report with a possible cause is expected within 30 days. The Bristol Fire Marshal said investigators are working to accommodate requests by employees and residents to retrieve belongings from the facility.
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