"I cry with them": Workers mourn victims of Pa. candy factory explosion
WEST READING, Pa. (CBS) -- "It's like my family out there. It hurts. I cry, I cry with them," Kerry Grassley said.
Grassley is fighting back tears as he describes the hours he's spent at the site of the R.M. Palmer Company candy factory building that was destroyed in an explosion Friday night.
Seven people were killed in the blast, which rocked windows across the town and stalled rail traffic for hours as firefighters and rescue workers descended on the scene.
The Public Works department where Grassley works is just blocks away from the scene and is where he spoke to CBS News Philadelphia this week.
"You know I see these people coming out of the building – the parking lot is straight across the street – every day," Grassley said. "It's extremely sad. It's an image I don't ever want to see again."
Grassley got to the scene, he says, before some of the first responders did – and he's been there practically every hour since.
His team from the West Reading Department of Public Works has too.
"That's the thing with this borough, we're all so tight," Troy Grassley said. "Everybody is a big family in this borough, so when one's down everyone jumps in and helps out."
From clearing off debris during search and rescue efforts to fixing water main breaks during the cleanup phase – the team has helped first responders, investigators and the like.
Billy Riegel only started with the borough's public works department less than a month ago.
"Doing what we can to help everybody out, make everybody's job a little bit easier," he said.
The team agrees their shared focus to bring families closure, as well as the support from the community, is what kept his team going.
"I made promises. Didn't know if I could keep them, but I was going to make my damndest to," Kerry Grassley said.
They too want to thank everyone who brought them food, sent kind words and just lent their support for helping them through the tragedy.
And above all – this team is sending their prayers to the victims.
"They're real to me," Kerry Grassley said.
And want the community to know they too are Palmer strong.
"Just hope somewhere they find peace in this. I hope somewhere the families find some type of closure. I just hope we figure out what it is," Grassley added.
Authorities identified the West Reading explosion victims as 30-year-old Xiorky D. Nunez, 44-year-old Diana M. Cedano, 55-year-old Judith Lopez-Moran and 60-year-old Domingo Cruz were identified as the victims from Reading, Pennsylvania.
Sixty-three year-old Susan H. Halvonik of Upper Providence Township, 62-year-old Michael D. Breedy of Marion Township and 49-year-old Amy S. Sandoe of Ephrata were also killed in the explosion.
A vigil is scheduled at the West Reading Fire Department at 223 Playground Drive at 7:30 p.m. Religious leaders will be speaking at the memorial.
Grassley and his team say they will be there.
