The 911 calls immediately following a house explosion in Lower Township, N.J. capture the shock and emotion as neighbors dial for help.
"We just had an explosion here," one caller says, "Oh my God, oh my God."
LISTEN: House Explosion 911 Calls
Husband and wife, Evelyn and James McCarty, were critically injured in the explosion that leveled their home on East Atlantic Avenue yesterday afternoon.
Neighbor: "The house across the street from me just blew up."
911 operator: "It just blew up?"
Neighbor: "Blew up, I don't know if there is anybody in there, please..."
911 operator: "What do you mean blew up?"
Neighbor: "There was an explosion... the house is like... please get somebody here quick."
On a different 911 call, one woman is ordered to evacuate her own house after she tells the 911 operator that "The roof just blew off their (neighboring) house."
Before fire and emergency crews arrived on the scene, some brave neighbors rushed into the home to save the couple. The man who lives directly across the street is talking with a 911 operator during those rescue efforts.
After they found Evelyn, the neighbor asks "Where's Jim, where's Jim?" and then directs other neighbors on where to go to find him.
He then tells the 911 operator, "We got him out, we got everybody out." The McCarty's were taken to the man's front lawn until help arrived at the scene.
911 operator - "Sir, are you with the actual owner of the house?"
Neighbor: "Yes, I'm with both of them, they are in my front yard."
911 operator- "Can I talk to her?"
Neighbor: "No, they can't. They are on the ground, they're hurt, they're injured."
Evelyn and James McCarty are both hospitalized with severe burns and are in critical condition.
Susan Carlson, a family friend, says she had recently visited the couple and is now praying for their recovery.
"I know they got burned bad," said Carlson. "When the next door neighbor went in, she said she was on fire. She's like leave me and go get my husband and that's just the way she would do that."
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"The strong indication is that this was a propane leak," Johnson said. "We are confident that the incident was not caused by natural gas or the natural gas system."
