‘It’s not just the clothes on my back, it’s the memories’: Woman loses her home in explosion

July 12, 2018 4:59 AM

Jamie Perez,

Posted: July 12, 2018 4:59 AM

Updated: August 31, 2021 12:21 PM

by Jamie Perez

‘It’s not just the clothes on my back, it’s the memories’: Woman loses her home in explosion — Courtesy downtown Sun Prairie resident

SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. — Some residents are calling the Sun Prairie explosion a nightmare. Around 6 p.m. Tuesday night, construction workers dug into a natural gas line causing an explosion.

Several buildings in the area were leveled, multiple firefighters, police officers, and civilians were sent to the hospital, ending in one fatality. More than 100 residents were displaced from their homes but are slowly returning throughout Wednesday evening; that is, if they have a home to come back to.

Crews are still hard at work in #SunPrairie after a gas line was struck and exploded, leveling several buildings downtown and killing a firefighter. Stay with #News3 for the latest updates. pic.twitter.com/dq2yvXTExS

— Jamie Perez (@JamiePerezTV) July 11, 2018

“It seemed like it was all stories until I saw the photos, the videos, and now being down here, I’m seeing that it’s real. It happened,” said Angela Levendoski, who lost her home in the explosion.

Levendoski lived in the apartments above the restaurants that exploded. She made it out by mere minutes.

“I’m very thankful the way things played out yesterday. I wasn’t in my normal routine,” she said.

She said the things she saw before escaping were unreal.

“There were construction people out there running with their hands over the face like something just happened,” she said.

She was told to evacuate and that it would only take a few hours. Little did she know, she would never see the inside of her home again.

“I’m lost. It’s not just the clothes on my back, it’s the memories,” she said.

The memories are now burned to ashes and debris. But out of all the replaceable items, there’s one thing that she can’t replace.

“I lost a friend, a boss, in the explosion. I feel bad for his family, his wife, their toddlers,” she said about the firefighter who died in the explosion.

She said the day after the explosion is harder than the day of, but the one positive she can take away is that out of all the things she lost, she’s thankful her life wasn’t one of them.

“The dog’s out. She’s fine, I’m fine. It’s just going to be a rough road” she said.