Greece, N.Y. (WHAM) — It was a surreal scene in Greece as a house was completely wiped off its foundation in the early morning hours of Monday.
The entire event was caught on camera. Security footage from neighbors on Stone Road shows the giant fireball and the deafening blast.
MORE: House leveled by explosion, fire on Stone Road in Greece | Greece man helps three people escape home explosion on Stone Road
Jimmar Cathey lives across the street. He was helping his wife prepare for work just before 5 a.m. when they heard the blast.
“Off that first boom, it startled us, that made me run out,” Cathey said. “But the second boom was the full explosion, so my thought was to get my family to safety.”
Our 13WHAM Skyview Drone captured the extensive damage caused by the explosion, which leveled the home and severely damaged one house next door.
“I jumped out of bed and thought maybe a car crashed into the tree in our front yard. I looked out the window, I saw orange flames and I saw the neighbor’s house on fire,” said Tom Corsi, who lived next door to the explosion. “I looked down onto our patio, I thought I saw our AC unit might have been on fire, our patio furniture. I just started screaming, ‘Fire, fire the house is on fire.’ I got my wife and son out of the house as fast as we could. I went across the street and called 911.”
Firefighters say the three people inside the home at the time of the explosion — a father, mother, and daughter — all escaped and were rushed to Strong Memorial Hospital.
“A lot of people don’t make it through that,” Cathey said. “Seeing how those flames were. I thought the worst at first. But seeing everyone spring into action and actually see that they were OK.”
The family is new to the area, and this was Cathey’s first interaction with them.
“I didn’t get a chance to meet them until this morning, but seeing them in distress — I doubt they will remember my face, because I know I wouldn’t,” he said.
For Cathey and his wife, this scene brought back memories of when their house caught fire in 2019.
“I know my wife was dealing with it a lot this morning, just remembering everything, I mean, but who wouldn’t,” said Cathey.
RG&E is working with the fire department and Greece town officials to identify the cause of the explosion.
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