A person called dispatchers when she and others in the area began smelling leaking gas, according to dispatch records obtained by the newspaper through a public records request.
“You can hear it coming,” a 911 caller said about the gas leak. “It sounds like it’s just shooting out.”
The dispatcher told the caller to knock on apartment doors and ask residents in the impacted building to evacuate. In the 911 call audio, the caller is heard banging on a door and speaking to a resident who said she could smell the leak. She convinced the resident to gather her things and leave her home.
“Oh my god, her whole house smelled like gas when she opened the door,” the caller said. “Oh my gosh, I’m scared. I’m shaking… I can smell it all throughout all these apartments, it’s coming out their doors.”
Others evacuated the building as the caller continued to knock on doors and shout to residents to get their attention. She told the dispatcher that she could not get a few people to answer. Another person helping the caller knock on doors tried to get the attention of a resident who appeared to be “asleep” in front of her doorway.
Seconds later an explosion erupts, as the caller and others heard in the background of the call scream. The dispatcher tries to communicate with the caller, who is yelling at others about a child who was inside the building.
“Her baby, her baby,” the caller sobbed. “She needs help, she needs help. There’s a baby in there.”
People at the scene rescued an infant who “wasn’t even a year old” after the blast.
The caller told the dispatcher that a woman ran out of an apartment while she was on fire.
“I tried to get everyone out,” she said. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”
The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office confirmed that Edeline Ducatel, 50, of Springfield, died two days after the explosion.
The second woman involved in the incident remains in critical condition, according to the fire division. The 11-month-old child was also transported to the Shriners wing of Dayton Children’s Hospital.
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