First responders recall Realty Building Explosion one year later

Wednesday marked the somber one-year anniversary of a gas explosion that rocked downtown Youngstown when crews cut a gas line in the basement of the Realty Building during routine cleanup work.

27-year-old Akil Drake, who worked in the Chase Bank on the first floor, died in the blast, while several others were hurt.

"I don't think anyone could've prepared for what happened that day because it was just a random Tuesday."

Two EMTs and a paramedic sat down with 21 Weekend News Anchor Corey McCrae, recalling the sequence of events in the aftermath of that gas explosion.

"I was the first ambulance that was dispatched down," said Brittany Miketa, a paramedic for Emergency Medical Transport in Youngstown. "You could almost taste the gas; it made your throat very scratchy," Miketa described.

It was one of many vivid details recounted by this trifecta of brave individuals that ran toward danger that day.

"One thing I remember very vividly was looking down, where we were going, and wheeling the cot and seeing a wallet and a cellphone," said Ashley Ray, an EMT who graduated from EMT school the prior year.

A triage was also set up to assess patients on the ground in real time. Brittany Miketa says in situations like these, being able to fall back on your training is crucial.

"Just being able to take a glance at each patient and determine, 'Oh, this one can wait a second; this one needs to go now,'" she explained.

Both Miketa and Ray reiterated the importance of following the structure they were taught and how it paid dividends in an unprecedented situation.

"In EMT school, they teach you how to triage, incident command, and mass casualty incidents, and they were like, 'That's for the military; you're never going to use this,'" Ray stated.

Experience that was better to have had and not needed than to have needed it and not had it.

"I ended up actually using it, and being that I was newer out of school, I did remember a lot of that, and it helped for sure," the EMT added.

This trio of emergency workers praised the communication and the teamwork with other dispatch, police, fire, other members of incident command, and other agencies that stepped up to the plate. It was ultimately an effort that likely saved lives.

"Just next door there is an apartment complex. If it had hit any of that or the hotel, there could've been a lot more casualties if it had gotten any bigger." said Miketa.