BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The wreckage has been cleared from 36 Covington Road in Buffalo, where police say Santo Cok, 73, blew up his home Thursday evening in an attempted suicide. In the process, the homes on either side of his property were badly damaged and will have to be torn down.

The explosion shook windows and houses in the neighborhood and the smoke could be seen for miles.

Cok, like his neighbors, was uninjured by the explosion but he’s now facing charges of arson, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment, and was in police custody at the hospital, where he underwent a mental health evaluation.

Neighbors are now getting to work cleaning up the mess.

“It’s like a snowstorm, everybody gets out and digs out the snow, something like this happens you come out and help your neighbor,” said Bob Martin.

Mary Ilene Tarapacki, owns one of the homes next door to the explosion. She wasn’t home when it happened but her dogs were inside. 

 “The neighbor to the right of my house and my good friends son who’s a Marine broke into the house and got our two purebred dogs out of there,” she said.

They’re also thanking first responders for their quick action.

 “Fire trucks just parked, laying hoses, there were police cars just in every driveway,” Martin said. “There were fire department apparatus down the street parked in driveways. With the flames and the smoke you couldn’t really see much except for the firemen going in and out it was kind of like an eerie movie.”

Tarapacki said she stayed in a nearby house last night, just in case something happened. She wasn’t home at the time of the explosion. On Friday, she said she wasn’t sure who gave her the clothes she was wearing but is grateful to be alive and safe.

The next steps for her are seeing what belongings can be saved and going through insurance.

Cok's house was torn down overnight.