You are so right about taking things for granted.
Maybe I didn’t make it clear in my last post. My uncle was there. He and the Chief were in the quarters of E226 when the explosion took place. After the explosion, they ran out of the FH, through the smoke and dust in the street towards the building along with the members of E226 and their rig.
When I said he (my uncle) was glad they didn’t go to the firehouse to report the leak, I was referring to the homeowner. Instead of the homeowner knocking on the firehouse door to report the leak, he went to get a friend/neighbor to help him look for the leak. Had the homeowner went to the FH instead, things might have turned out different for my uncle, the Chief and the members of E226. The homeowner, his wife and the neighbor were the 3DOA’s. My uncle always felt he dodged a bullet that night. He went on to retire in Jan of 2001 after 39 years on the job.
I didn’t arrive there until the following morning. Sorry for the confusion and I hope that makes it a little clearer.