DURHAM, N.C. — Memories of the Durham gas explosion are still strong in the minds of those who were first on the scene, even five years later.
On April 10, 2019, an explosion rocked downtown Durham. A crew installing underground cables in the Brightleaf District on North Duke Street struck a gas line which started to leak into a coffee shop, where it eventually ignited and caused an explosion that could be heard and felt for miles.
“I first drove up, before I went around the corner, I saw people sitting, they were bleeding. People were trying to hold other people, people crying,” Deputy Chief Chris Iannuzzi with the Durham Fire Department said. “When I went around the corner, it was still a lot of dust in the air. And you could just see that pretty much an entire building was gone.”
Two people died and dozens of others were injured in the blast, including nine firefighters from Durham. Today there is still a permanent imprint on the landscape of downtown where the building once stood, but there’s an even bigger mark in the minds of those who live there and remember that day.
“It's the city's 9/11 of sorts, right, as far as people remember where they were that day,” Fire Chief Bob Zoldos said. “I was at City Hall. It was actually the 150th anniversary of the city that day, and I was in civilian clothes, my only day ever wearing civilian clothes to work.”
The explosion happened just four months into his tenure as Durham’s fire chief, and his new team was put to the test in a way they had never experienced before.
“Responding to a gas leak is pretty much a bread and butter incident until something goes wrong like it did that day and our members that were part of the explosion, who got knocked down, got up, got back in the game and helped people who were down right in front of them,” Zoldos said.
It’s impossible to say how many lives could’ve been lost without the fire department’s quick response and immediate evacuation of the area.
“Our members put their lives on the line every day to protect the lives of Durhamites, but to have people already hurt before I even get there was really challenging,” Zoldos said.
All nine of the firefighters who were injured made full recoveries and returned to service. In the past five years they have worked hard to recover physically and psychologically, but Zoldos said that recovery still continues today for both the city and the department.
“All of our members, you know, physically, emotionally, psychologically struggled through this call but still be outwardly facing, still be facing the people that need our help,” Zoldos said.
The day is not easily forgotten, but the resilience demonstrated and the spirit of Durham and its fire department are the things he wants remembered.
“They were strong that day and ever since,” Zoldos said. “You can't go to a fire scene here in the city Durham and not see that type of strength from our members.”