Woman speaks up after Holladay home explosion shakes up neighborhood
HOLLADAY, Utah (ABC4) — After a large amount of dynamite was found in a Holladay home, officials detonated it — shaking the neighboring area and destroying one neighbor’s home.
“We lost all our windows, our doors were exploded, the roof was lifted up … all our siding melted … it melted our sheds and blew up one of the sheds and there’s just debris everywhere,” said Keeva Juarez, the next-door neighbor.
WATCH: Loud boom heard as officials detonate Holladay home with stash of dynamite
According to Juarez, a neighbor came to her children Monday afternoon and said she smelled chemicals in her house, and that a hazmat team was coming on Tuesday.
“And that’s all we thought,” Juarez said.
Juarez said one truck pulled in at about 6:30 a.m., and then more and more as the morning went on.
By 10 a.m. Juarez was asked to shelter in place and by 11:30 a.m., she was asked to shelter in her basement, as they found dynamite in the neighboring shed.
At 1 p.m., she was asked to evacuate as they also found dynamite in the basement and attic.
Juarez relocated to Oakwood Elementary — the evacuation site — which Juarez said shook as the first explosion went off at 3 a.m. At 4 a.m., the second explosion went off.
“I was actually outside Oakwood when that one went off and I saw the big red explosion,” Juarez said. “You could feel it.”
After that, Juarez was told that people in the neighborhood could return to their homes — except for the people who lived near. And yesterday, when she went in her home for the first time, she said “it looked like a bomb went off inside.”
Juarez was renting that house for about a year and said it was typically a quiet street.
“We don’t want to leave so it’s really sad that we lost the house,” she said. “We’re just trying to keep positive and keep going.”
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