If Rebecca Hatley had gone home right away after the earthquake struck last week, her apartment might still be standing. She knew she had a job to do, though.
When she finally pulled into the parking lot of her Airport Heights apartment complex, the air smelled of smoke. At first, she didn’t suspect it might be coming from her own home, but as she approached the door, she heard the smoke detectors sounding.
“I put the key in the door and I turned it, and as soon as I opened it, the smoke just barreled out and I heard the back window shatter,” Hatley said. “And at that point, I didn’t know what to do.”
A gas pipe had broken. She tried to call 911, but the phone lines had been damaged by the earthquake. Neighbors brought fire extinguishers over, but at that point the fire was too large to be contained. By the time the fire department arrived, Hatley and her daughter could do nothing but watch as the home they shared together disappeared in the flames.