O'Neill citizens speak in the aftermath of parish center explosion

O’NEILL, Neb. -- A home security camera near the parish center captured the explosion a few minutes before 6:00 a.m.

Terry Miles is safety officer with O’Neill Volunteer Fire. He heard the blast and got the page shortly after.

“The St. Patrick’s Parish Center was totally engulfed in flame. Also present was — there was a lot of debris. It was pretty evident that the building had exploded.”

Phil Butterfield lives a block and a half west of the parish center. The explosion blew out four of his windows.

“It was a pretty loud wake up call. The whole house shook. There was a Big Bang that went off.”

His wife, Natalie, rushed outside.

“The flames were shooting into the sky and I didn’t bother calling the fire department because I knew that they were probably already on their way.”

Tom Fritton lives a few doors closer. He also had window damage.

“It was a good, loud boom. It definitely got me out of bed pretty quick.”

Also in the neighborhood, Scott Poese was preparing for his morning show on KBRX Radio when he heard the boom.

“I stepped out my back porch and I could see the flames shooting up above the trees from the parish center, which was two and a half blocks away.”

“The flames, like I said, were probably 50 or 60 feet in the air. I did talk to a gentleman that happened to see when it actually went off this morning from downtown. He said it shot a flame up into the air, he estimates, over 100 feet.”