Capt. Grady Valencis has been with the Prince George’s County fire department for 18 years and he had never seen an explosion as large as the one that rocked a strip mall last week. On May 6, a leaking natural gas line ignited, blowing out the windows of several stores and knocking Valencis off his feet.
What did you see?
There was a smaller explosion first behind the stores. I walked back there and saw a gas fire had started along the roof line. I then ran back to the front to get equipment in place when I heard the ignition of the gas that had built up between the drop ceiling and the roof. I turned my head away and ducked just as the glass blew by me.
What did it sound like?
There was a rush of wind pulling in toward the store and then there was the blast. The wind rushing past sounded like that first big hill on a roller coaster.
Were you hurt?
I luckily had on all my equipment and turning my head at the last second kept the glass from hitting my face. I was knocked down.
What did you do next?
I got off the ground and started looking for the other members of the crew. I saw the members of my crew were on their feet and in decent shape. I then told the Pepco guy to make sure the power was off. This all happened in about 20 seconds. … We got hoses out to deal with small fires that cropped up, too.
