BRIGHTON, N.Y. — Tuesday marks 70 years since a gas line explosion rocked the Brighton area.

It was Sept. 21, 1951 when a house exploded in the 12 Corners area. It wasn't the last. Over the course of three hours, subsequent explosions and fires destroyed fifteen homes in all. Three people died.

Town historian Mary Jo Lanphear says the sudden chaos of the day compares to a more recent tragedy.

"This event back in 1951 was just as awful to the people who lived here in this town then as 9/11 was to us when it happened 20 years ago,” Lanphear said. “That destruction coming out from nowhere was just unthinkable."

Lanphear says more documentation and pictures about that day are available at Brighton Town Hall.