PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL – PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL – Kirsten Bond’s condition has improved to ‘good’ while she is in recovery at St. Mary’s Medical Center.Meanwhile there’s still much more to be done as they assess the damage.
Calls to 911 show how the community came together during this emergency.
CALLER:
Something just blew up over here.
About a dozen neighbors called for help.You can hear screams in the background while they talk to dispatchers.
DISPATCHER:
And you heard and explosion?
CALLER:
Yeah.
DISPATCHER:
And there’s fire on the screens?
They reported hearing a loud boom, then seeing smoke and flames.While some rushed to aid Kirsten Bond, the woman who was in the house when it happened, and her two dogs, others stayed on the phone with dispatchers.
DISPATCHER:
Okay tell me what exploded ma’am.
CALLER:
Were not sure what exploded but somebody just came out of the house… Her hair was on fire and it looked like she had some burns.
Bond was rushed to St. Marys Medical Center with second degree burns to her face.The explosion is still under investigation but it may have been
started by a propane tank.
Whatever it was, it was enough to destroy the home and severely damage connected units.Today, Alan Epstein, who helped rescue the woman and her
pets had meetings to figure out what to do next.
“I was lucky that I was home, help Mrs. Bond get her dogs, get my cat.If I hadn’t been home I think it would have been a lot worse,” Alan Epstein said.
Others in the neighborhood are still shaken, but moved by the overwhelming response of the community.
“I have kids too and I want to know that if I say help me, someone is coming and it was so scary.It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen,” said neighbor Mindi Barry.
While everyone in the home where the fire started made it out alive, neighbors tell us that as many as four pets in a connecting unit didn’t make
it out.