Firefighter nearly killed, speaks out

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - A gas explosion nearly kills six firefighters over the weekend and now one of the first responders talks about his near death experience.

The incident happened Saturday at the corner of Rugby and Pavilion Street in the capital city. Officials say a speeding SUV crashed into an apartment complex. Firefighter Michael Difazio was one of the first people to arrive at the scene and immediately went and shut off the gas.

“When I shut it off it didn’t shut off. It was still leaking because I could hear it. We said we have to back up. As soon as we decided that it just blew up,” says Michael Difazio.

Difazio, five other firefighters, and a Providence police officer were all thrown several feet into the air following the e arly morning explosion.

"After the explosion I remember looking back and seeing bodies everywhere. I thought they were all dead. And I remember thinking what am I going to tell these guys’ families," says Difazio.

Difazio and some of his fellow firefighters were able to get up and pull debris off of their partners. All seven of the first responders injured piled into a rescue and thankfully two days later all are recovering and going to be okay.

"It's that kind of weird situation where they had to put themselves at risk to try and protect everyone else that was in the building because this could have been much worse," says Firefighter Union President Paul Doughty.

"We were lucky. We're all lucky," says Difazio.

Providence police have issued an arrest warrant for the driver of the SUV.