911 calls after hotel blast in Fort Worth reveal chaos, terror
FORT WORTH - Newly-released 911 calls from the scene of the explosion at the Sandman Signature Hotel in downtown Fort Worth reveal the chaos and confusion after the blast.
"We're at the hotel, please hurry!" said one caller who was stuck inside an elevator inside the building.
Another witness described a "big, big loud bang" and "lots of smoke" to the 911 operator.
"It shook everything," another caller described. "It exploded, went out the top of the building."
The Fort Worth Fire Department says the blast caused two floors of the hotel to collapse into the basement, injuring 21 people.
"This was horrific," said attorney Eric Marye. "I mean, it was a living nightmare for these people that were stuck in this building. My client, after this explosion, had to maneuver his way out, on his belly, just in the dark, while he's breathing in all kinds of sick and debris and dirt and dust. He was scared to death, and he sat there for about 30 minutes, trying to see if anybody was going to come help and no one did. So he made his own way out."
Marye says his client, Jose Mira, worked for the Musume Restaurant, which was inside the Sandman.
"He had reported this smell, a strong smell of gas, to management, and that his eyes were burning from it, and they just kind of told him to keep working," Marye said. "So he did, and he's paying the price."
According to Marye, Mira has a traumatic injury from the impact of the explosion and difficulty breathing. He has filed a lawsuit against the Atmos Energy Corporation, Sandman Signature Fort Worth Hotel, Sandman Management, INC., Northland Properties Corporation and Musume Restaurant for "gross negligence which led to the plaintiff's serious injuries."
Fort Worth Fire Chief Jim Davis said "there's no question" natural gas was somehow involved in the explosion.
Atmos Energy finished its investigation Friday and said it found no indication its gas lines or equipment caused the blast.
Marye says it's way too early to draw that kind of conclusion.
"That's pretty standard for Atmos to come out and say that at this time," he said. "We don't know, but we're going to find out."
Marye got a eight-day temporary restraining order on Friday evening to prevent more cleanup and debris removal at the site so his law firm can bring in their own experts to investigate.
The blast is going to give certain distinct patterns, and so what we don't want to do is upset any of the debris, the pattern of the explosion, so that everybody's working with the same hand so to speak," said Marye.
Chief Davis says the department is fully cooperating with the temporary restraining order, so crews are somewhat on pause right now since they need to remove debris from the basement to continue investigating inside the building.
While they wait to get back in, they're continuing to interview witnesses or people who may know something about what happened. They urge people to reach out to the fire department if they have any information that would be helpful.
